Monday, January 31, 2011

New changes from the Pacific reported on shortwave

Solomon Islands
5019.88, SIBC. Randomly from 1319 to 1440* (sign-off)UTC, Jan 31. Extended schedule. Poor to almost fair in QRN, in Tok Pisin language. Mostly playing pop island songs to interviews, weather. Usual English sign-off at 1438 announcement, followed by national anthem. Best in LSB due to Cuba interference from 5025. Per Sei-ichi Hasegawa's recent reports, Vanuatu has gone to 24 hour broadcasting and The Cross has been reactivated, so the Pacific is finally becoming more active on shortwave.
(Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

As noted from my earlier EDXP Newsletter posting, religious shortwave broadcaster Cross Radio via Pohnpei, Micronesia has reactivated, and has been observed on 4755 kHz to the 0934 sign-off. According to their website, Canadian technicians arrived, " last week of January 2011 to work on our transmitters for our shortwave radio." I will post their schedule and additional information, as it becomes available.
Gayle VH

AIB condemns closure of Al Jazeera Cairo bureau; laments lack of freedom

London, 30 January 2011

The Association for International Broadcasting, the industry association for international TV, radio, mobile and online broadcasting, strongly condemns the closure of the Cairo bureau of Al Jazeera Network and the withdrawal of accreditation to Al Jazeera correspondents in Egypt.

The moves by the Egyptian Ministry of Information, announced on Egyptian TV and by MENA, the official news agency in Egypt, come at a time when the focus of a majority of the world's media is on the continuing unrest in the North African country. The announcement on MENA said: "The information minister [Anas al-Fikki] ordered ... suspension of operations of Al Jazeera, cancelling of its licences and withdrawing accreditation to all its staff as of today."

Al Jazeera Network's Arabic- and English-language services have provided extensive, constant coverage of developments in Egypt since the start of demonstrations across the country, providing news and analysis to viewers in Egypt, across North Africa and the Middle East and to a global audience.

"AIB and its global membership of broadcasters protests strongly at the restrictions placed on Al Jazeera Network in Egypt," says AIB chief executive Simon Spanswick. "The Arabic and English channels reach tens of millions of viewers, including significant numbers of Egyptian expatriates around the world who have come to rely on Al Jazeera for up-to-the-minute coverage of the fast-moving events in Egypt. The move by the authorities in Egypt demonstrates a complete disregard for freedom of expression as well as media freedom in the country. AIB looks forward to the Egyptian authorities swiftly reconsidering the restrictions they have placed on the channel and allowing Al Jazeera and all other media companies to report from the country without hindrance."

The move by the Egyptian authorities follows similar restrictions by other governments around the Middle East on print and broadcast news media preventing them from reporting freely. Despite the restrictions, media outlets find ways of circumventing restrictions thanks to extensive technological developments and it is expected that Al Jazeera Network and other news media will find ways to bring news from Egypt as the crisis continues to audiences both within the country, across the region and throughout the world.
(AIB/Simon Spanswick via Rachael Baughn)

EDXP Newsletter

Solar Activity
Sunspot Cycle 24 has started, but its estimated that it will not peak until year-2015, at the least, and certainly not at the same intensity for previous cycles.

IPS, Sydney, advises that the 10.7 cm solar flux has dropped to 80, and the daily smoothed sunspot number has fallen to 21, very low values. This means that long-haul multi-hop propagation over darkness, or partial-darkness zones, on frequencies above about 13 MHz will continue to be unreliable.

Czech Republic
On Feb 1, 2011, all shortwave transmissions from the Lytomysl site in the Czech Republic will cease. Radio Prague will no longer be heard on shortwave, and it's output will only be accessible via the internet or satellite.

Germany
Effective Feb 1, 2011, DW is listed for these new frequencies:

9545 Woofferton 0600-0800 German
11645 Sines 1700-1800 Russian

Pohnpei
A report by a Japanese listener in a newsgroup advised that the religious broadcaster "Cross Radio Pohnpei" is again being heard on shortwave, using 4755. and observed on Jan 29 from 0946 until signoff at 0934. Pohnpei is one of four States in the Pacific, part of the Federated States of Micronesia, administer by the USA. The broadcaster had commenced shortwave broadcasts some time ago but had not been heard until now. (Bob, are we to assume this is English ? Check also the times above in particular the reference to 0946 and a sign-off of 0934 - GVH )

Ukraine
Radio Ukraine International has reduced its shortwave output to only one frequency - 7435 - in use 1500-1800 intended for Europe. All other services have been closed down.

United States
Effective Feb 1, 2011, the Tennessee-based religious broadcaster, Leap of Faith, plans to use the following new schedule:

5080 2300-1200
5755 2300-1200
9480 1200-2300
9990 1200-2300

Power is 100 kW, site is "Lebanon", callsign is "TWW", target is Americas/Europe.

World Radio TV Handbook CD
The CD from WRTH is mow available, which is a PDF Bargraph File current for the B10 season. It may be purchased direct from the WRTH at http://wrth.com/ for 9.99 British Pounds (about AUS/US$16).
(Bob Padula, Melborne, Australia)

Middle East Broadcast Playing a Crucial Role

Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) Chairman Walter Isaacson released the following statement concerning coverage of recent events in the Middle East:

“As Chairman of the BBG, I have been regularly updated on developments across the Middle East by our Arabic-language broadcasters Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa. I am impressed by the results, and the commitment from the reporters, editors and managers at MBN to consistently uphold the highest journalistic standards, to compete with other outlets to get the story first, to get it accurately, and to provide the rich content the public deserves. They are playing a crucial role in reporting the developing story by providing live coverage from Cairo and other key cities, pre-empting regularly scheduled programming to cover breaking news, and incorporating video clips, photos and online comments from protesters as well as commentary from U.S. policymakers and analysts. Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa are important media players in the Middle East during these tumultuous days, contributing to international broadcasting in significant ways, utilizing all means of communications available, and with dedicated commitment to the mission.”

The Broadcasting Board of Governors is an independent federal agency, supervising all U.S. government-supported, civilian international broadcasting, whose mission is to promote freedom and democracy and to enhance understanding through multimedia communication of accurate, objective, and balanced news, information, and other programming about America and the world to audiences overseas. BBG broadcasts reach an audience of 165 million in 100 countries. BBG broadcasting organizations include the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa), Radio Free Asia, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio and TV Marti).
(Leticia King)

Radio Netherlands increases broadcast to Egypt

There are extra shortwave transmissions in Dutch for the estimated 8,000 Dutch citizens in Egypt:

* 0600-0700 UTC on 9830 kHz
*1600-1700 UTC on 5955 kHz + 9750 kHz
*1730-1830 UTC on 11615 kHz + 11655 kHz
(Radio Netherlands Media Network Weblog)



Comparing with the existing RNW shortwave schedule I see:

FREQ STN BTIM ETIM LANG RLY NOTES SOURCE
===== === ==== ==== ===== === ========== =============
5955 RNW 1600 1700 DUTCH RMP unchanged RNW blog 1/29
9750 RNW 1600 1700 DUTCH ISS unchanged RNW blog 1/29
9830 RNW 0600 0700 DUTCH WER unchanged RNW blog 1/29
11615 RNW 1730 1800 DUTCH MDG unchanged RNW blog 1/29
11615 RNW 1800 1830 DUTCH SMG x-AA/Sudan RNW blog 1/29
11655 RNW 1730 1800 DUTCH MDG unchanged RNW blog 1/29
11655 RNW 1800 1830 DUTCH MDG x-English RNW blog 1/29

I assume the content is not normal RNW Dutch language programming, but
is focused on getting needed info to Dutch citizens in Egypt.
(Dan Ferguson/NASWA via Larry Van Horn)

Al-Jazeera using Skype to cover unrest

Text of report by Qatari newspaper The Peninsula website on 30 January

Doha: The Al Jazeera Network have adapted to restricted communications in Egypt by adopting innovative social media techniques to extract news and views from the country.

While ordinary Egyptians have not had access to social networks like Twitter, Al Jazeera have been using Skype to record messages by members of the public. Al Jazeera has made the recordings available on Audioboo, promoting them through Facebook.

Al Jazeera’s web output has proved incredibly popular in the last 24 hours. The livestream from their English news channel has been viewed for 26 million minutes in the last 12 hours. The livestream has even been twice as popular as the website itself, putting more pressure on US cable platforms in particular to air the channel.

A spokesman said “Al Jazeera has been the most searched for term on the internet after Egypt itself, according to Alexa. The outside world was starved of first hand accounts when the internet went black in Egypt. Al Jazeera filled the void with live reports from across the country as the world flocked to our website for the latest developments on the ground.”
(Source: The Peninsula website, Doha, in English 30 Jan 11 via BBC Monitoring)

Related story:

Al Jazeera kicked out of Egypt, Nilesat signal cut
Qatar-based satellite channel Al Jazeera was ordered by Egypt’s information ministry earlier today to shut down its operations in the country, and later in the day its signal to some parts of the Middle East was cut. The news channel, which says it can reach 220 million households in more than 100 countries, said in a message on its broadcast that Egypt’s satellite Nilesat had cut off its broadcasting signal. That effectively took Al Jazeera off the air in some parts of the Arab world, but other signals were still available.

“Dear viewers, Al Jazeera’s signal has been cut off on Nilesat,” it broadcast via a signal visible in Kuwait, and gave satellite frequencies on which the channel was still available.

Earlier, Egyptian authorities ordered it to stop operations in Egypt, though correspondents were still reporting news by telephone. “The Information Minister ordered … suspension of operations of Al Jazeera, cancelling of its licences and withdrawing accreditation to all its staff as of today,” a statement on Egypt’s official Mena news agency said.

Launched in Doha, Qatar, in 1996, Al Jazeera has more than 400 reporters in over 60 countries, according to its website.

(Source: Reuters)

In a statement, Al Jazeera said it strongly denounces and condemns the closure of its bureau in Cairo by the Egyptian government. “Al Jazeera has received widespread global acclaim for their [sic] coverage on the ground across the length and breadth of Egypt,” the statement said.

An Al Jazeera spokesman said that the company would continue its strong coverage regardless. “Al Jazeera sees this as an act designed to stifle and repress the freedom of reporting by the network and its journalists,” the statement said.

“In this time of deep turmoil and unrest in Egyptian society it is imperative that voices from all sides be heard; the closing of our bureau by the Egyptian government is aimed at censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people.

“Al Jazeera assures its audiences in Egypt and across the world that it will continue its in-depth and comprehensive reporting on the events unfolding in Egypt. Al Jazeera journalists have brought unparallelled reporting from the ground from across Egypt in the face of great danger and extraordinary circumstances. Al Jazeera Network is appalled at this latest attack by the Egyptian regime to strike at its freedom to report independently on the unprecedented events in Egypt.”

Al Jazeera’s Arabic channels are now broadcast as follows:

1) New frequency for Arabic and Mubasher on Nilesat 7W:
10949 vertical (new)
SR: 27.500 Msps
FEC: 3/4

2) New frequency for Arabic and Mubasher on Arabsat 26E:
11585 vertical (new)
SR: 27.500 Msps
FEC: 3/4

3) Arabic and Mubasher on Hotbird:
12111 MHz Vertical (Old)
SR: 27.500 Msps
FEC: 3/4

4) Arabic and Mubasher on Arabsat Badr4 (Old):
12034 MHz Horizontal
SR: 27.500
FEC: 3/4

5) Arabic and Mubasher on Arabsat Badr4 (Old):
11996 MHz Horizontal
SR: 27.500
FEC: 3/4

(Source: Al Jazeera/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Babcock updates winter relay schedules

Babcock, formerly known as VT Communications, has released a revised edition of winter relay schedules. Broadcasts are from transmitters in Armenia, Ascension Island, Canada, Chile, Palau, Portugal, Rwanda, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
Gayle VH

Part 1 of 3

All times UTC

Voice of Vietnam
0100-0130 6175 SAC 250 kW 212 deg to NoAM English
0130-0230 6175 SAC 250 kW 212 deg to NoAM Vietnamese
0230-0300 6175 SAC 250 kW 212 deg to NoAM English
0300-0330 6175 SAC 250 kW 212 deg to NoAM Spanish
0330-0400 6175 SAC 250 kW 212 deg to NoAM English
0400-0430 6175 SAC 250 kW 212 deg to NoAM Spanish
0430-0530 6175 SAC 250 kW 240 deg to NoAM Vietnamese
1800-1830 5955 MOS 100 kW 300 deg to WeEUR English
1830-1930 5955 MOS 100 kW 300 deg to WeEUR Vietnamese
1930-2000 5955 MOS 100 kW 300 deg to WeEUR French
2000-2030 5970 WOF 250 kW 075 deg to EaEUR Russian
2030-2130 3985 SKN 250 kW 121 deg to WeEUR German
2130-2230 7370 WOF 250 kW 105 deg to SoEaEUR Vietnamese

Adventist World Radio
0100-0200 15445 TAI 100 kW 250 deg to SoEaAS Vietnamese Sat

Sudan Radio Service (Clandestine)
0400-0500 13720 DHA 250 kW 245 deg to EaAF Arabic
0500-0530 13720 DHA 250 kW 240 deg to EaAF Arabic
0530-0600 13720 DHA 250 kW 240 deg to EaAF English
1500-1530 17745 SIN 250 kw 114 deg to EaAF English
1530-1700 17745 SIN 250 kw 114 deg to EaAF Arabic
1600-1700 17700 ASC 250 kW 065 deg to EaAF Arabic
1700-1730 9840 DHA 300 kW 240 deg to EaAF Dinka Mon
1700-1730 9840 DHA 300 kW 240 deg to EaAF Zande Tue
1700-1730 9840 DHA 300 kW 240 deg to EaAF Muro Wed
1700-1730 9840 DHA 300 kW 240 deg to EaAF Bari Thu
1700-1730 9840 DHA 300 kW 240 deg to EaAF Shiluk Fri
1700-1730 9840 DHA 300 kW 240 deg to EaAF Arabic Sat/Sun
1730-1800 9840 DHA 300 kW 240 deg to EaAF English

Radio Canada International
0400-0500 7265 SKN 300 kW 110 deg to NE/ME Arabic
1700-1730 9555 RMP 250 kW 048 deg to EaEUR Russian
1700-1730 11935 WOF 250 kW 078 deg to EaEUR Russian
1900-2000 9510 SKN 250 kW 177 deg to NoCeAF French
1900-2000 11845 SKN 300 kW 195 deg to NoWeAF French

Radio Okapi (Clandestine)
0400-0500 11690 MEY 250 kW 340 deg toCongo French/Lingala

Radio Japan NHK World
0500-0530 5975 RMP 500 kW 140 deg to WeEUR English
1700-1900 9575 DHA 250 kW 285 deg to NoAF Japanese
0400-0430 6035 ERV 100 kW 222 deg to NE/ME Arabic
1500-1700 12045 SNG 250 kW 315 deg to WeAs Japanese
0500-0530 15205 TAC 100 kW 131 deg to SoAS English
1000-1030 11780 TAC 100 kW 163 deg to SoAS English
1300-1345 9720 TAC 100 kW 131 deg to SoAS Bengali
1345-1430 9720 TAC 100 kW 163 deg to SoAS Hindi
1430-1515 6200 TAC 100 kW 170 deg to SoAS Urdu
0200-0300 11860 SNG 250 kW 340 deg to SoEaAS Japanese
0800-1000 11740 SNG 250 kW 001 deg to SoEaAS Japanese
0945-1030 6140 SNG 250 kW 140 deg to SoEaAS Indonesian
1030-1100 11740 SNG 250 kW 330 deg to SoEaAS Burmese
1130-1200 11740 SNG 250 kW 001 deg to SoEaAS Thai
1230-1300 11740 SNG 250 kW 001 deg to SoEaAS Vietnamese
1300-1330 11740 SNG 250 kW 001 deg to SoEaAS Chinese
1430-1500 11740 SNG 250 kW 330 deg to SoEaAS Burmese
0230-0300 6145 SGO 100 kW 060 deg to BRA Portuguese
0930-1000 6145 SGO 100 kW 060 deg to BRA Portuguese

Bar-Kulan Radio / Meeting Place (Clandestine)
0500-0600 15750 DHA 250 kW 225 deg to EaAF Somali
1600-1700 9960 MEY 500 kW 020 deg to EaAF Somali

Radio Damal (Voice of Somali People, Odka Bulshada Somaliyeed) (Clandestine)
0400-0500 15700 DHA 250 kW 225 deg to EaAF Somali
0500-0700 15700 DHA 250 kW 205 deg to EaAF Somali
1830-1930 11740 WOF 300 kW 122 deg to EaAF Somali
1930-2130 11970 DHA 250 kW 205 deg to EaAF Somali

BBC
0500-0800 3955 SKN 100 kW 121 deg to WeEUR English DRM
0700-0800 5875 MOS 040 kW 300 deg to WeEUR English DRM
0800-0900 5875 WOF 100 kW 114 deg to WeEUR English DRM
1400-1600 5845 NAK 100 kW 290 deg to SoAS English DRM
1400-1600 13590 TRM 090 ky / 005 deg to SoAsia English DRM

KBS World Radio
0700-0800 6045 SKN 300 kW 110 deg to WeEUR Korean
1100-1130 9760 WOF 100 kW 105 deg to WeEUR English Sat DRM
1800-1900 7235 RMP 250 kW 062 deg to EaEUR Russian
2000-2100 3955 SKN 250 kW 106 deg to WeEUR German
2100-2200 3955 SKN 250 kW 175 deg to WeEUR French
2200-2230 3955 SKN 250 kW 106 deg to WeEUR English

Voice of Croatia
0700-1100 17860 SNG 100 kW 135 deg to AUS Croatian/English

Cotton Tree News (Clandestine)
0730-0800 11875 RMP 500 kW 190 deg to CeAF English/Local

IRIN Radio (Integrated Regional Information Network) (Clandestine)
0830-0930 17680 DHA 250 kW 225 deg to EaAF Somali

IBRA Radio
1100-1200 9945 HBN 100 kW 318 deg to EaAS Chinese via T8WH Angel 3
1730-1800 11740 MEY 100 kW 015 deg to EaAF Somali
1730-1800 11785 SKN 300 kW 140 deg to CeAF Swahili
1800 1900 9420 RMP 250 kW 095 deg to NE/ME Arabic
1800-1900 12045 WOF 250 kW 114 deg to NE/ME Arabic
1800-2015 9635 SKN 300 kW 140 deg to CeAF Arabic
1900-2030 7445 RMP 500 kW 160 deg to WeAF Fulfulfe/Hausa

Eternal Good News
1130-1145 15525 DHA 250 kW 100 deg to SoAS English Fri

Deutsche Welle
1100-1400 15725 NAK 100 kW 290 deg to SoAS German DRM from March 1
1600-1800 5845 NAK 100 kW 290 deg to SoAS German DRM
1600-1700 13590 TRM 090 kW 005 deg to SoAS German DRM
0200-0300 15205 TRM 090 kW 045 deg to SoEaAS German DRM

Trans World Radio Africa
1300-1315 13660 KIG 250 kW 030 deg to EaAF Afar Fri-Sun
1730-1800 9775 DHA 250 kW 230 deg to EaAF Amharic Fri
1800-1815 5965 DHA 250 kW 225 deg to EaAF Tigrinya Mon-Wed
1800-1815 5965 DHA 250 kW 225 deg to EaAF Amharic Thu/Fri
1800-1830 5965 DHA 250 kW 225 deg to EaAF Tigre Sat
1800-1830 5965 DHA 250 kW 225 deg to EaAF Kunama Sun
1815-1845 5965 DHA 250 kW 225 deg to EaAF Tigrinya Mon-Fri
1830-1845 5965 DHA 250 kW 225 deg to EaAF Amharic Sun

Voice of Tibet (Clandestine)
1330-1400 13755 DHA 250 kW 075 deg to CeAS Tibetan
(R BULGARIA DX MIX News, Ivo Ivanov, via wwdxc BC-DX TopNews Jan 31)
(DX Mix News # 661/Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria, Wolfgang Bueschel, Germany)

Friday, January 28, 2011

HOT SPOT DXING - Fox News Declares Cairo is a War Zone


The following is the latest B10 Winter shortwave schedule I have for Radio Cairo. Any corrections or monitoring information is always appreciated.
Gayle Van Horn

Egypt, Radio Cairo - B10 Multilingual schedule

Radio Cairo website in Arabic: http://www.ertu.org/

Effective: 31 October 2010 - 27 March 2011

All times UTC
target areas: af (Africa) am (Americas) eu (Europe) na (North America) pa (Pacific) sa (South America)

Afar
1600-1700 15285af

Albanian
1500-1600 13580eu

Amharic
1730-1800 15285af
1800-1900 15285af

Arabic
0000-0045 9250sa 9990sa
0030-0100 11590na
0100-0200 11590na
0200-0300 11590na
0300-0400 11590na
0400-0430 11590na
1015-1100 15060as
1100-1200 15060as
1200-1215 15060as
1300-1400 15080as
1400-1500 15080as
1500-1600 15080as
2000-2100 6860pa
2100-2200 6860pa
2330-0000 9250sa 9990sa

Arabic/General Service
0000-0100 9305na
0100-0200 9305na
0200-0300 9305na
0300-0400 9305na
0400-0500 9305na
0500-0600 9305na
0600-0700 9305na
0700-0800 17510af
0800-0900 17510af
0900-1000 17510af
1000-1100 17510af
1900-2000 9305eu
2000-2100 9305eu
2100-2200 9305eu
2200-2300 9305eu
2300-0000 9305eu

Dari
1300-1400 15065as

English
0000-0030 11590am
0200-0300 6270na
1215-1300 17870as
1300-1330 17870as
1600-1700 12170af
1700-1800 12170af
1900-2000 11510af
2000-2030 11510af
2115-2200 6270eu
2200-2245 6270eu
2300-0000 11590am

Farsi
1330-1400 15040as
1400-1500 15040as
1500-1530 15040as

French
2000-2100 6270eu
2030-2100 9280af
2100-2115 6270eu
2100-2200 9280af
2200-2230 9280af

Fulfulde
1845-1900 9940af 11555al
1900-2000 9940af 11555al

German
1900-2000 6270eu

Hausa
1800-1900 9990af
1900-2000 9990af
2000-2100 9990af

Indonesian
1230-1300 15710as
1300-1400 15710as

Italian
1800-1900 6270eu

Pashto
1400-1500 15065as
1500-1600 15065as

Portuguese
2215-2300 9990sa
2300-2330 9990sa

Russian
1900-2000 9280eu

Somali
1700-1730 15285af

Spanish
0045-0100 6270na 9915ca 9990sa
0100-0200 6270na 9915ca 9990sa

Swahili
0400-0500 9745af 11740al
0500-0600 9745af 11740al
1530-1600 17810af
1600-1700 17810af
1700-1730 17810af

Turkish
1700-1800 9280va
1800-1900 9280va

Urdu
1600-1700 6270as
1700-1800 6270as

Uzbek
1500-1600 15780as

Egypt, Radio Cairo/Radio Voice of the Arabs

Arabic
0000-0030 9295af
1900-2000 9295af
2000-2100 9295af
2100-2200 9295af
2200-2300 9295af
2300-0000 9295af


Egypt, Radio Cairo/Radio Waadi el Nile

Arabic
1700-1800 9250af
1800-1900 9250af
1900-2000 9250af
2000-2100 9250af
2100-2200 9250af
2200-2300 9250af
(DX Mix News 657 via wb, Germany & Ivo Ivanov, Bulgaria)


Egypt cuts Internet, satellite TV and mobile phones
Egypt prepared for massive anti-government demonstrations today, communications to and from the outside world were severely restricted. All mobile phone services and live satellite television feeds were cut off early today. Now there are reports that the Internet has been cut off within Egypt. Only landline phones and fax remain in use.

———————————————-

Al-Jazeera TV provides option “in case of jamming”

“In case of jamming to Al-Jazeera, please use the following values: FEC 3/4 - SR 27.500 Msps - 10949 VERTICAL,” Qatari Al-Jazeera TV reported at 1443 gmt on 28 January in an “urgent” screen caption, as the channel covered anti-government protests in Egypt.

(Source: Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, in Arabic 1443 gmt 28 Jan 11 via BBC Monitoring)

——————————–

Al-Jazeera English live streaming available

Al-Jazeera is still streaming live reports in English from the Egyptian capital and Suez via its website. (AS)
1600 UTC: A nationwide curfew has officially started in Egypt, but scenes in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez indicate that the crowds are ignoring it. (Al-Jazeera via AS)
1640 UTC: A government building next to the state radio and TV headquarters in Cairo is on fire. The radio and TV building is heavily guarded, but there must be concern that the fire will spread. (Al-Jazeera via AS)
1656 UTC: Al-Jazeera reporter says that crowds are now heading towards the radio and TV building. (Al-Jazeera via AS)
(Radio Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Radio Free Afghanistan B10 schedule

This is an updated version from an earlier edition I had published in Monitoring Times, MT ExPress.
Gayle VH

Radio Free Afghanistan
is funded by BBG, and broadcast for listeners in Afghanistan. Launched in January 2001, it is produced in the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty studio in Prague, Czech Republic.

All times UTC
all broadcast targeted to Asia

Dari
0330-0400 9335as
0400-0430 9335as 12140as 15335as
0530-0600 12140as 17530as 19010as
0600-0630 12140as 17530as 19010as
0730-0800 12140as 17530as 19010as
0800-0830 12140as 17530as 19010as
0930-1000 12140as 17530as 19010as
1000-1030 12140as 17530as 19010as
1130-1200 9335as 9990as 12140as
1200-1230 9335as 9990as 12140as
1330-1400 9335as 12140as
1400-1430 9335as 12140as

Pashto
0230-0300 9335as 12140as 15335as
0300-0330 9335as 12140as 15335as
0430-0500 12140as 15335as 17530as
0500-0530 12140as 15335as 17530as
0630-0700 12140as 17530as 19010as
0700-0730 12140as 17530as 19010as
0830-0900 12140as 17530as 19010as
0900-0930 12140as 17530as 19010as
1030-1100 9990as 12140as 19010as
1100-1130 9990as 12140as 19010as
1230-1300 9335as 9990as 12140as
1300-1330 9335as 9990as 12140as
(WRTH 2011)

Blog Logs

Nice selection of what listeners are hearing on the shortwave bands. Thanks to new contributor François from France. Good to hear from you.

All times UTC // parallel frequency
*sign-on / sign-off*

Angola
4949.806, Radio Nacional, 2240-2250. Noted a male in Portuguese with program comments with very weak audio. Music at 2248. Signal was threshold.(Chuck Bolland, FL)

Ascension Island
11665, Deutsche welle relay coming on at 2359:30 over top of NHK Radio Japan from Yamata, which had been in Japanese prior to top of the hour. DW in German with ID at 0000 and into news. NHK went off at 0000. 45444. (Very good) (Harold Sellres-BC)

Australia
2368.5, Radio Symban, 1430 + 1511. Back on the air again after being absent for some weeks. As they had been off, I had hoped they were upgrading the transmitter, but did not notice any improvement today, very faintly heard music which could have been Greek. Better propagation on Jan 19, clearly Greek music at 1045 + 1336.(Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Bolivia
6134.804, Radio Santa Cruz, 1015-1030. Tune-in, noted a tune of traditional music. male commenst at 1022 in Spanish giving time check. RSC is alone on the freq which allows for a good signal this morning.(Chuck Bolland, FL)

5952.45, Emisora Pio XII, 1029-1045. Noted male in Spanish with comments. Although the carrier is good, the audio is very low in the noise. Splatter is a major problem also. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

4699.969, Radio San Miguel, 1033-1045. Female announcer's Spanish comments, joined by male announcer. Signal's audio is threshold with a fair presentation. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

Brazil
4865.031, Radio Verdes Florestas, 1050-1110. Prior to 1000 signal was threshold,but after 1000 noted a female in Portuguese language comments between music. Although this frequency is usually activie with other Brazilian stations, Verdes Florestas is the only station heard here this morning and it was poor. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

Chad
6165, RNT, 0427-0503. Did not hear any trace of them on the air, only Zambia (Radio 2) in the clear.(Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Dominican Republic
6025, Radio Amanecer (Santo Domingo), 2338-2349. Spanish. Slow religious-sounding vocal music. Occasional short announcements by a man and a woman. Good signal, improving over time, on a busy, noisy band. (Jim Evans, TN)

Ethiopia
9705, Radio Ethiopia, 2030-2100:30.* Local Horn of Africa pop music. Some rustic local music. Amharic talk. National anthem at 2059. Fair (Brian Alexander, PA)

6030, Radio Oromiya (Addis Ababa), 0432-0445. Oromo. Talk by man with occasional quick announcement by second man and a few bars of Horn of Afica music. Poor to moderate signal with minor fading. (Jim Evans, TN)

Guam
11850, Adventist World Radio (Agat), 2220-2229.* Javanese. Talk by man and woman. 2224 Talk by woman, Indonesia mentioned, with religious music in the background. All music after 2225. Gone at 2229. Poor signal with some fading and high side broadcast interference. (Jim Evans, TN)

Honduras
3340, Radio Misiones Intl (HRMI) (Comayaguela) (presumed), 0532-0540. Spanish. Slow contemporary religious music. No announcements heard. Very weak signal with fading, barely above the noise. (Jim Evans, TN)

India
9870, All India Radio, Vividh Bharati (Entertainment Channel), Bangaluru, 0141. With Hindi vocals as well as some purely instrumental piano music, male announcer in Hindi. Fair but deteriorating to poor by 0158. (Harold Sellers-BC)

Israel
6973, Israel Defense Forces Radio (Lod), 0006-0016. Hebrew. Talk by man and woman. Slow paced instrumental pop music at 0009, then more talk. Poor signal, improving, with some fading. (Jim Evans, TN)
 
Laos
6130, Lao National Radio, 1415-1428. In English and Laotian, with what seemed to be their scheduled English language lesson, Functioning in Business. As it will be Lao New Year’s from April 14 to 16, it might be worth while to check on the LNR External Service on 7145, which has been off the air for some time now. Last New Year’s I had the pleasure of hearing their special programming for their English segment (1330-1400*). They explained about the various activities associated with Lao New Year’s and then played some indigenous songs, which were very nice. I hope they will reactivate and broadcast a similar special program this year too, but it is only a hope.(Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

Niger
9704.99, LV du Sahel, 2100-2300.* Audible after Radio Ethiopia signs off. French talk. Variety of Afro-pop music and Euro-pop music. Local chants at 2253. Sign off with short flute interval signal and national anthem at 2258. (Brian Alexander, PA)

9705, La Voix du Sahel (Niamey) (presumed), 2156-2218. French. West African pop music. Announcement by woman in French at 2201, then pop music with talk-over by woman. Back to only music after a few minutes. Poor signal with fading, a few times down into the noise, but also occasionally up to moderate strength. (Jim Evans, TN)

North Korea
9730 Voice of Korea, 0137. English to Asia, man with political talk mentioning “the red flag” several times, 0139 woman with ID. Poor. //11735, 13760, 15180 which are beamed towards the Americas were all good. (Harold Sellers-BC)

Oman
5965, BBC (A'Seela) relay, 2238-2246. English. World news read by man and woman. Man with sports news at 2240. Very poor signal, barely above the noise. Stronger parallels noted on 9915 and 12095, both via Ascension. (Jim Evans, TN)

Palau
13590, Radio Australia (Medorn), 2228-2232. English. Two men talking. ID by man at 2231 followed by news. Poor to moderate signal with occasional fading. (Jim Evans, TN)

Peru
4774.95, Radio Tarma, 1125-1135. Another one of those signals that is barely
audible with a male in Spanish comments. A second station is on 4775 kHz which
may be the Brazilian, Radio Congonhas? (Chuck Bolland,FL)

Russia (Asiatic)
11830 Voice of Russia via Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at 2340, English, woman with the “Jazz Show”, 23342 with het, //7250 very poor. (Poor, with het, (Harold Sellers-BC)

Uganda
4976, Radio Uganda (Kampala), 0426-0440. English. Pop music. Talk by man at 0427, sometimes joined by woman. Very weak signal with fading. Language was definitely English, but poor signal, noise, and somewhat muffled audio made content difficult to understand. It may have been a Sunday religious program. Also heard 1/25/2011, 0424-0434, with talk and pop music, and somewhat improved signal. (Jim Evans, TN) 4976 at 2210 UTC. SINPO 33322. (François from Capbreton, France).

Vatican State
4005, Vatican Radio, 0450-0503. Hungarian. Woman talking with an occasional few bars of music. Background music at 0459 followed by interval signal. Announcements by man at 0500 at start of Polish language program. Talk by man and woman followed. Poor to moderate signal under a very strong, relentless RTTY signal. (Jim Evans, TN)

Zambia
4965,047, Number One, Africa, 2220-23050. Noted a male in English with religious comments, music at 2246. This continues as the signal remains at a good level. At 2300 heard possible ID as, "... Radio Christian Voice". Broadcast continues. (Chuck Bolland, FL)

6165, ZNBC/Radio 2, at 0249. Was finally able to confirm the distinctive African Fish Eagle interval signal. Difficult due to strong interference // 5915.After RN (via Bonaire) signed off (0427*) found them in the clear (no hint of any Chad) with non-stop African Hi-Life music; IDs: “Radio 2”. In English with local time checks (UT +2) 0500 news, almost fair. Pleasant to find them with no interference and a nice music program.(Ron Howard, CA/Cumbre DX)

ham activity and code use on the rise

CQ NEWS (Press Release). Richard Moseson, W2VU, Editorial Director, sent out the following on January 18th: "WorldRadio Online Analysis Shows Ham Activity, Code Use, Both Up Since End of Code Testing -- An analysis by WorldRadio Online columnist Randall Noon, KC0CCR, suggests that levels of on-air ham activity and Morse code usage both have increased since the FCC dropped the requirement for Morse code testing in early 2007. Noon is the magazine's FISTS columnist. FISTS is an organization that promotes the use of Morse code among hams. Writing in the February issue of WorldRadio Online, Noon based his analysis on a combination of FCC licensing statistics and published results of ARRL Field Day activity from 2005 to 2009. He used Field Day data on the assumption that 'people who participate in Field Day are at least minimally active hams.'

Comparing statistics for Field Day activity with the total number of licensees, Noon determined that both the raw number and the percentage of licensed hams operating in Field Day had increased since 2007. In addition, he found that the number of Morse code (CW) contacts in Field Day had increased as well, hitting an all-time peak in 2009. This is significant, he says, 'because it is assumed that hams will use the same modes on Field Day that they do when operating at other times.'

Since the FCC stopped requiring code tests, Noon concluded, 'it appears that the use of CW has gained in absolute usage because the newer hams licensed since 2007 appear to be more actively engaged in the hobby, as evident by the higher levels of participation in Field Day.' Noon's complete analysis appears in the February 2011 issue of World-Radio Online, which will be posted on or about January 20 on www.worldradiomagazine.com. The magazine is available to readers at no charge.

WorldRadio Online is an advertiser-supported publication of CQ Communications, Inc., which also publishes CQ Amateur Radio, CQ VHF and Popular Communications magazines. Richard Fisher, KI6SN, is the Editor."
(Ohio/Penn # 995)

Radio Farda schedule update

Schedule update - Radio Farda
www.radiofarda.com

Effective to: 27 March 2011
Programming for listeners in Iran, launched in December 20002. Does not broadcast in English


All times UTC / as (Asia)

Farsi
000-0100 5860as 6115as
0100-0200 5860as 6115as
0200-0230 9430as
0200-0300 5860as 6115as
0230-0300 9430as 9550as 15690as
0300-0400 5860as 9430as 9550as 15690as
0400-0500 5860as 9430as 9550as 13615as 15690as
0430-0500 12015as
0500-0600 5860as 9520as 12015as 13615as 15690as
0600-0700 5860as 9520as 13615as 15535as 15690as 17840as
0700-0800 5860as 9520as 9760as 13615as 15535as 15690as 17840as 21715as
0800-0900 5860as 9520as 9760as 13615as 15535as 15690as 17840as 21715as
0900-0930 15535as 21715as
0900-1000 5860as 9520as 13615as 15690as 17815as 17840as
0930-1000 11690as 21715as
1000-1030 17840as
1000-1100 5860as 9520as 11690as 13615as 15690as 17815as 21715as
1030-1100 17840as
1100-1200 5860as 9520as 11690as 13615as 15410as 15690as 17840as 21715as
1200-1230 17840as 21715as
1200-1300 5860as 13615as 15410as 15690as
1230-1300 13680as
1300-1400 5860as 11750as 13615as 13680as 15410as 15690as
1400-1500 11750as 13615as 13680as 15410as
1500-1600 13615as 13680as 15410as
1600-1700 7520as 7580as 13615as
1700-1730 13615as
1700-1800 7520as 7580as 9785as
1800-1900 7520as 7580as 9850as
1900-2000 7520as 7580as 9340as 9850as
1930-2000 5850as
2000-2100 5850as 7520as 7580as 9430as
2100-2130 9340as
2100-2200 5850as 7520as 7580as
2200-2230 5850as
2200-2300 7520as 7580as
2230-0000 5810as
2300-0000 7520as
(WRTH 2011)

Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty winter schedule

RFE/RL - winter schedule update

Effective to: 27 March 2011
All times UTC
target areas: as (Asia) eu (Europe)

Avar
0400-0420 5885eu 15230eu
1600-1620 11605eu 11730eu

Azeri
1600-1700 7480eu 7480eu 9485eu

Belarusian
0400-0500 6105eu 6120eu
0500-0600 6105eu
1600-1700 7220eu 9520eu
1700-1800 7220eu 9520eu
1800-1900 6150eu 9570eu
1900-2000 6150eu 9570eu
2000-2100 5840eu 7220eu
2100-2200 5840eu 7220eu

Chechen
0420-0440 5885eu 15230eu
1620-1640 11605eu 11730eu

Cicassian
0440-0500 5885eu 15230eu
1640-1700 11605eu 11730eu

Kazakh
0100-0200 7235as 9790as
1300-1400 9445as 15265as

Kyrgyz
1200-1230 11955as 13755as 15265as
1500-1530 9445as 11790as

Moldovan (Romanian)
0500-0530 mtwhf 5995eu
1600-1630 Sat/Sun 5910eu
1700-1730 mtwhf 6135eu
1900-1930 mtwhf 6135eu

Russian
0400-0500 5925eu 6015eu 9760eu 17770eu
0500-0600 5925eu 9535eu 9760eu 17770eu
0600-0700 9535eu 9760eu 15250eu 17770eu
0700-0800 7290eu 12015eu 15250eu 15285eu
0900-1000 7220eu 9360eu 15130eu
1000-1100 7220eu 9360eu 15130eu
1300-1400 9715eu 9850eu 15130eu
1400-1500 7305eu 9715eu 15130eu
1500-1600 7270eu 11805eu 11870eu 11985eu
1600-1700 11805eu 12015eu 12025eu
1700-1800 9405eu 9640eu 9805eu 12025eu
1800-1900 6105eu 9405eu 9525eu 9560eu 9625eu 9780eu
1900-2000 59990as 9405eu 9430eu
2000-2100 5895eu 6150eu 9465eu
2100-2200 5895eu 6105eu 7395eu

Tajik
0100-0200 7275as 11795as
0200-0300 7275as 11795as
0300-0400 9520as 11795as
1400-1500 7215as 9695as
1500-1600 7260as 9695as
1600-1700 7260as 9695as

Tatar/Bashkir
0400-0500 5940eu 7285eu
0600-0700 11730eu
1600-1700 9310eu 11980eu
2000-2100 5990eu

Turkmen
0200-0300 7295as 12015as
0300-0400 6000as 12015as
1400-1500 6055as 9445as
1500-1600 9835as
1600-1700 5820as 6060as
1700-1800 5820as 6060as

Uzbek

0200-0300 9680as 12025as 15590as
0300-0400 9680as 12025as 15590as
1400-1500 9595as 11715as 12015as
1600-1700 7550as 9625as 9760as
(WRTH 2011)

Radio France Internationale winter schedule update


Schedule update for France's winter schedule

Effective to: 27 March 2011

All times UTC

France, Radio France Internationale - B10
target areas: af (Africa) as (Asia) ca (Central America) eu (Europe) na (North America) me (Middle East) va (various areas)

Chinese
0930-1000 5900as 7325as 11875as
1000-1030 5900as 7325as 11875as
2200-2300 7350as 11665as
2300-0000 9955as 11665as

English
0400-0430 7315af 9805af
0500-0530 9805af 11995af
0600-0630 9765af 13680af 15160af
0700-0730 15605af
1200-1230 21620af
1600-1700 15605af

French
0400-0500 7215af 9790af
0500-0600 9790af 11605af 11700af
0600-0700 7340af 9790af 11605af 15300af
0700-0800 11700af 13695af 15170af 15300af 17850af
0800-0900 13695af 15300af 17620af 17850af
0900-1000 13695af 15300af 17620af 17850af
1000-1100 15300af 17620af
1100-1200 15300af 17620af
1100-1130 15680as
1130-1200 6175va 13640na 17610ca
1200-1300 15300af 17620af 17660af 21580af
1300-1400 15300af 17620af
1400-1500 15300af 17620af
1500-1600 15300af 17620af
1600-1700 15300af 17850af
1700-1800 11705af 13695af 15300af 21690af
1800-1900 11705af 11995af 13695af 15300af 21690af
1900-2000 9790af 11705af 21690af
2000-2100 6175af 7205af
2100-2200 6175af 7205af

Hausa
0600-0630 7220af 9805af 11690af
0700-0730 11830af 15315af
1600-1700 15315af

Farsi
1430-1500 15360me 17850me
1700-1800 9795me

Portuguese
0600-0700 11830af
1700-1800 15530af

Russian
1400-1430 15605eu 17850eu
1600-1630 9800eu 11670eu
1900-2000 5905eu 7425eu

Spanish
0100-0130 5995ca
1000-1030 7375ca 9825ca
1200-1300 15515ca
2100-2130 17630ca

Swahili
0430-0500 9835af
0530-0600 11790af
1500-1600 Sat 12015af

Vietnamese
1400-1500 7380as
1500-1600 9565as
(WRTH 2011)

NUJ reacts angrily to proposed BBC World Service cuts

Britain’s National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has reacted angrily to the announcement that hundreds of jobs and services are to be axed as a result of government cuts to BBC World Service funding.

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said: “These cuts are a direct result of the Government slashing funding to an internationally respected and successful broadcaster. Journalists and other BBC employees are rightly angered at the destruction being caused to a broadcasting service of which the UK should be proud. The NUJ will join with other unions in defending jobs and quality broadcasting at the World Service. Our members have already explained, in a remarkably calm and reasoned way, why the cuts are such a severe threat to their service. World Service journalists have sought the support of senior parliamentarians in resisting these short sighted cuts and the NUJ will support their fight to defend jobs and quality services.”

Mr Dear added: “The diversity of staff and their presence in so many key locations around the world contributes to making the BBC World Service the leading voice in international broadcasting. At its best the World Service can challenge corruption, expose human rights abuses and promote democratic values. By cutting the service the government will cut British influence in the rest of the world, and cuts will also be deeply damaging for objective quality news services around the globe.”

(Source: National Union of Journalists/Radio Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Radio Netherlands to close Bonaire relay station in 2012

Radio Netherlands Worldwide has made the decision to close its Bonaire shortwave station in October 2012. RNW’s Head of Programme Distribution, Jan Willem Drexhage, said the closure was regrettable, but stressed that this was a financial decision, and doesn’t mean that RNW has imminent plans to drop shortwave.

“It is a beautiful station, with good equipment, and ideal for reaching North, Central and South America, but the number of hours we are broadcasting from the station has been steadily falling in recent years. We anticipate that by the end of 2012, the number of hours will be so small that it would be too costly to maintain the station. That doesn’t mean we will stop shortwave immediately, as we will lease time on other stations in the region, for example Montsinery in French Guiana and Sackville in Canada. So the closure of Bonaire doesn’t automatically mean that we are giving up shortwave.”
(Radio Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Indonesia and Malaysia shortwave news

Indonesia
4749.94, RRI-Makassar, 1449-1559* UTC. Jan 24. Reactivated again, in Bahasa Indonesia. Easy listening pop songs, 1500-1515. Song of the Coconut Island interval signal, and relay of the Jakarta news. Back to pop songs, Love Ambon and sign off announcement from 1556-1559* (off just before the CNR1 time pips). Interference from Bangladesh Betar till their 1500 sign-off. Light interference from China's CNR1. Signal fair to poor. (Ron Howard, CA)

Malaysia
As I had foreshadowed a few weeks ago, RTVM has now introduced a second shortwave frequency from Kajang, 11665, carrying regular programming from Kuching via satellite feeds.

Appears to be 24 hours, and audible here strongly in Melbourne in window 1900 to 2100 UTC. Good signals, when parallel with 9835, taking the State Network "Sarawak FM" all-night service at that time.

Official ITU registration shows 100 kW, 93 degrees, CIRAF target zone 54NE, authorized 0000-1600.

I believe that the new channel is primarily intended for relaying the Sarawak State network "Wai FM" from Kuching, which is non 24 hours, operating in the period 2200-1600 UTC, mainly dialects programming.

11665 is also used by NHK (Yamata) 2200-0100 broadcasting to same target area.

Adjacent 11660 is occupied by Radio Australia Shepparton 2000-2200.
(Bob Padula, Melbourne, Australia)

BBC World Service to cut radio broadcast and language services

BBC World Service (BBCWS) gave details of its response to a cut to its Grant-in-Aid funding from the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office today.

BBCWS is to carry out a fundamental restructure in order to meet the 16 per cent savings target required by the Government’s Spending Review of 20 October last year. To ensure the 16 per cent target is achieved and other unavoidable cost increases are met, BBCWS is announcing cash savings of 20 per cent over the next three years. This amounts to an annual saving of £46m by April 2014, when Grant-in-Aid funding comes to an end as BBC World Service transfers to television licence fee funding, agreed as part of the domestic BBC’s licence fee settlement announced on the same day.

In the first year, starting in April 2011, the international broadcaster will be making savings of £19m on this year’s operating expenditure of £236.7m (2010/11).

The changes include:

*five full language service closures
*the end of radio programmes in seven languages, focusing those services on online and new media content and distribution
*a phased reduction from most short wave and medium wave distribution of remaining radio services.
BBC Global News Director Peter Horrocks said: “This is a painful day for BBC World Service and the 180 million people around the world who rely on the BBC’s global news services every week. We are making cuts in services that we would rather not be making. But the scale of the cut in BBC World Service’s Grant-in-Aid funding is such that we couldn’t cope with this by efficiencies alone.

“What won’t change is the BBC’s aim to continue to be the world’s best known and most trusted provider of high quality impartial and editorially independent international news. We will continue to bring the BBC’s expertise, perspectives and content to the largest worldwide audience, which will reflect well on Britain and its people.”

BBCWS also plans spending reductions and efficiencies across the board, targeted in particular in support areas where there will be average cuts of 33 per cent. BBCWS also expects to generate additional savings from the new ways of working after the move to the BBC’s London headquarters at Broadcasting House in 2012, and also by the transfer of BBCWS to television licence fee funding in April 2014.

Under these proposals 480 posts are expected to close over the next year. By the time BBCWS moves in to the licence fee in 2014/15 it’s anticipated that the number of proposed closures will reach 650. Some of these closures may be offset by new posts being created during this period. It is expected that audiences will fall by more than 30 million from the current weekly audience of 180 million as a result of the changes this year.

The changes have been approved by the BBC Trust, the BBC Executive and, in relation to closure of services, The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, William Hague, as he is required to do under the terms of the BBC’s agreement with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The changes in detail are:

Full language service closures

There will be the complete closure of five language services – Albanian, Macedonian, Portuguese for Africa and Serbian languages; as well as the English for the Caribbean regional service.

End of radio programming

BBCWS will cease all radio programming – focusing instead, as appropriate, on online, mobile and television content and distribution – in the following languages: Azeri, Mandarin Chinese (note that Cantonese radio programming continues), Russian (save for some programmes which will be distributed online only), Spanish for Cuba, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Ukrainian.

Reductions in shortwave and mediumwave radio distribution

There will be a phased reduction in mediumwave and shortwave throughout the period.

English language shortwave and mediumwave broadcasts to Russia and the Former Soviet Union are planned to end in March 2011. The 648 mediumwave service covering Western Europe and south-east England will end in March 2011. Listeners in the UK can continue to listen on DAB, digital television and online. Those in Europe can continue to listen online or direct to home free-to-air satellite via Hotbird and UK Astra. By March 2014, shortwave broadcasts of the English service could be reduced to two hours per day in Africa and Asia.

BBCWS will cease all shortwave distribution of its radio content in March 2011 in: Hindi, Indonesian, Kyrgyz, Nepali, Swahili and the Great Lakes service (for Rwanda and Burundi). These radio services will continue to be available for audiences by other means of distribution such as FM radio (direct broadcasts and via partners); online; mobiles and other new media devices.

Shortwave broadcasts in remaining languages other than English are expected to end by March 2014 with the exception of a small number of “lifeline” services such as Burmese and Somali.

English language programmes

There will be a new schedule for World Service English language programming – a focus on four daily news titles (BBC Newshour, BBC World Today, BBC World Briefing, and BBC World Have Your Say); and a new morning programme for Africa. There will be a new daily edition of From Our Own Correspondent; and an expansion of the interactive World Have Your Say programme.
There will be a reduction from seven to five daily pre-recorded “non-news” programmes on the English service. This includes the loss of one of the four weekly documentary strands. Some programmes will be shortened. Titles such as Politics UK, Europe Today, World Of Music, Something Understood, Letter From…, and Crossing Continents will all close. There will also be the loss of some correspondent posts.

Audience reduction

Audiences will fall by more than 30 million as a result of the changes announced on 26 January 2011. Investments in new services are planned in order to offset further net audience losses resulting from additional savings in the 2012-14 period.

Professional Services

There will be a substantial reduction in an already tight overhead budget. Teams in Finance, HR, Business Development, Strategy, Marketing and other administrative operations will face cuts averaging 33 per cent.

Job losses

Under these proposals 480 posts would be declared redundant; of these 26 posts are currently unfilled vacancies. BBCWS is proposing to open 21 new posts. Therefore the net impact of these proposed changes could result in up to 433 posts being closed this financial year against a total staff number of 2400.

By the time the BBCWS moves in to the licence fee in 2014/15 it’s anticipated that the number of proposed closures to reach up to 650. Some of these closures may be offset by new posts being created during this period.
(Source: BBC World Service Press Office/Radio Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

DXers Unlimited January 25-26


Radio Havana Cuba

Dxers Unlimited

Dxers Unlimited's mid week edition for Tuesday-Wednesday January 25-26 2011

By Arnie Coro, CO2KK

Hi amigos radioaficionados... listening via short wave and also by means of our streaming audio from www.radiohc.cu. I am your host Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK now ready to start the mid week edition of your favorite radio hobby program...


Here is item one... solar activity at low levels once again, and the daily solar flux figures moving down from a very weak peak of 88 units ... as anyone monitoring the HF bands will easily find out, the low solar activity continues to limit the chances of short wave propagation on frequencies above 20 megaHertz, even during the best times of the day at any given location.

Solar cycle 24 continues to show very weak activity .

Item two: You have questions and I do my best to answer them... Yes amigos, every day the e'mail brings in most interesting questions from listeners all around the world... Like for example the one sent by amiga Alice from Edinburgh , Scotland.

Alice is a newcomer to short wave listening who started to play with her brother's new digital portable radio... discovering that she could pick up stations from all over Europe, Africa and Asia, but very few stations from the Americas... Alice asks in her e'mail why it is not possible for her in Scotland to pick up stations from other countries in the America besides Cuba, Brazil and Colombia and Venezuela.

Well amiga Alice, first of all, let me tell you that at this moment when you pick up Radio Nacional of Venezuela's Canal Internacional , you are actually listening to a short wave transmission originating in Venezuela, but that is been broadcast from Cuba, by means of a relay station agreement between the two countries.

Venezuela is now in the process of installing its first international broadcasting transmitting station , from where it will be originating programs also in the near future. Relaying international programs is a well established practice, that nowadays makes use of both satellite and submarine fiber optic cables to send the signals from the studios of the originating station to the remote transmitter site located in another country.

The relay transmissions amiga Alice, will reach the target audience with much better signals due to the proximity of the remote transmitters site... For example, Radio China International sends its signals via satellite to Cuba, where Radio Cuba transmitters relay them to North and South America as well as to the Caribbean...

Now I am sure that you will understand more about relay stations, and to answer the other part of your question, I will be back in a few seconds after a short break for station ID. I am your host Arnie Coro in sunny Havana, Cuba...

......................

This is Radio Havana Cuba, the name of the show is Dxers Unlimited, and yes amigos, we do QSL, we do send QSL cards to listeners that report our programs, and this is done absolutely free of charge... Now part two of the answer to amiga Alice of Edingburgh, Scotland in the UK...

Besides Radio Havana Cuba, and Radio Nacional of Venezuela , using a rather simple short wave receiving antenna, you may be able also to pick up several stations from Brazil, as well as Argentina and Chile. Other South American countries are also on the air , especially on the 60 and 49 meters bands, but the stations are using low power and simple low cost antenna systems because they are intended to provide local or regional coverage.

When HF bands propagation conditions are good, you may pick up several of those low power stations from Peru, Bolivia , Ecuador , Colombia and Mexico... reception of those low power short wave broadcasts , mainly on the 60 and 49 meters band, but also at times on 31 meters this will usually take place very late in the evening your local time.

Item three: Answering another question sent by listener Mark from Toronto, Canada... Mark found a radio related device that is marked outside as a PRESELECTOR, and he Asks Arnie in his e-mail, if that piece of equipment is of any useful value.

Mark tells me that the preselector has a band switch and a dial, just like a short wave radio, but when he lifted the hinged top lid, he found that there are only two vacuum tubes inside, one is a rectifier, Mark also tells me, d the other one is a 7 pin miniature tube stamped on the glass with the markings 6AK5 , dash 5654 ...

Well amigo Mark, let me tell you that the PRESELECTOR that you now own, after the buy at the yard sale, is a piece of radio equipment that was popular in the early days of the radio hobby, when low cost receivers didn't had enough radio frequency amplification.

Adding the preselector between the antenna and the receiver, boosted the reception more or less significantly... the increase in signal strength was much more noticeable above 15 megaHertz , so radio amateurs on a tight budget will add a preselector to their receivers when they wanted to improve the performance on the 15 and 10 meter bands.

For all practical purposes, your well preserved preselector will not improve the performance of a modern table top receiver, but it could boost the reception and also clean the presence of image signals when connected between the antenna and a low cost portable solid state receiver ...

Now item four of the mid week edition of Dxers Unlimited amigos !

Amateur radio enthusiasts here in Cuba will be participating in a nationwide contest to be held on the 27th and 28th of this month of January to pay homage to Cuban national hero Jose Martí, whose 158 birthday will be celebrated on the 28th.

The contest will take place on the 160, 80 and 40 meter bands, and stations of the three categories of licenses are going to participate. This national contests are used also as a practice drill for emergency communications , as a large number of portable stations are deployed at historical sites. Those portable stations provide the contest participants with extra points, so everyone tries to work them, both on
SSB voice and on CW, as this contest encourages the use of both voice and Morse code radiotelegraphy communications.

The winners in each of the categories will receive diplomas and also several prizes that will be awarded by the Cuban Federation of Radio Amateurs.
..........................

Amigos your are listening to the mid week edition of Dxers Unlimited, that is on the air just after the half hour news segment of our daily programs. Our weekend edition is on the air Sundays and Mondays UTC days, just after the top of the hour newscast. Here is now more radio hobby related information coming to you from Radio Havana Cuba...

For both short wave listeners and amateur radio operators the installation of an adequate antenna for obtaining best results within the frequency range from 3.5 to 29.7 megaHertz is quite a challenge to say the least. City dwelllers, and especially those who live in apartment building face a great challenge when trying to listen or to operate, in the case of amateur radio hobby enthusiasts, because of the severe restrictions regarding the installation of external antennas.

High rise apartment buildings are an ideal location for VHF, UHF and Microwave operation if you happen to be living at one of the top floors, but are quite useless for that purpose if your apartment is located close to the ground requiring the installation of a very long length of transmission line.

Even the best coaxial cables available have very high losses on the frequencies above 50 megaHertz !

But, despite all those difficulties, I very often come across a ham radio operator that with a lot of ingenuity manages to operate, for example, on the 20, 17 and 15 meters bands, using different types of antennas.

Do notice that I don't even mention the 12 and 10 meters HF bands because the size of antennas for those bands is small enough to make them fit across a balcony ... But 20 , 17 and 15 meters are certainly the most popular DX bands when propagation conditions are let's say, normal or slightly above normal, and that is why people living in housing facilities with severe restrictions as regards to the installation of external antennas, try , in the first place to put up an antenna system that can be tuned to 20, 17 and 15 meters.

One of the regular Dxers Unlimited's listeners , who is also an avid ham radio operator asked about what could be done to install an antenna for the 20, 17 and 15 meters band that could fit into his apartment's balcony that measured from one end to the other roughly 5 meters or about sixteen and a half feet. He was already succesfully operating on the 6 meters band with a half wave dipole, and also on 2 meters using a homebrew DK7ZB 5 element Yagi ... on the 70 centimeters band his DK7ZB
Yagi also allowed him to access a repeater located very far away.

His 10 meters half wave dipole brought some local contacts, and also some DX when the band is open, but as everyone now is fully aware, the 10 meter band openings via the F2 layer are very rare indeed due to the lack of solar activity.

So, here is what I advised him to do...

Number one: Start learning about magnetic loop antennas, in order to be able to make one in the near future... The magnetic loop will require the use of expensive copper tubing , buying also expensive variable capacitors and finding someone capable of doing a very good soldering using silver solder to complete the antenna. So I told amigo Bob to begin learning about the magnetic loop as it may be a very good near
future option, but in the meantime, he could build a compact short dipole antenna that will make possible to operate on the 20, 17 and 15 meters bands with rather good efficiency, and also on the 30 meters band with somewhat reduced performance.

The antenna I suggested fits perfectly into a slightly less than 15 feet horizontal space, and when fed via homebrew one to one balun and using a wide range antenna tuner has proven to provide excellent performance. One good advantage of this antenna is that it can be installed in a couple of minutes when you want to operate or listen to the radio, and likewise it can be taken down and placed in storage at a corner of the balcony !!! The good efficiency of this antenna design despite its
short length, is due to the use of two carefully built end loading spiders, that act as an effective capacitive load.

The two loading spiders are built using eight wires that are carefully soldered to a circle made of 6 millimeters or about a quarter of an inch copper tubing. Each leg of the antenna is just two and a quarter meters long and they end up connecting to the end loading spiders ... The center insulator supports a one to one balun transformer, and the antenna is fed with a short length of RG213 or RG8X coaxial cable that connects it to the antenna tuner.

Please notice that this antenna uses no loading coils, although it you want to experiment , maybe it would be interesting to insert midway at each leg a small loading coil. But so far, all our experiments with this antenna have proven that it will work quite well with a simple antenna tuner, making possible to operate on the 20, 17 and 15 meters bands, as well as on the 12, 10 and 6 meters band too. The fact that the antenna is located inside a balcony, places some limitations as regards to both the overall coverage and also limits its use to power levels not to exceed 25 watts.

But let me add that running 25 Watts to this antenna on 20 meters even under quite normal band conditions it is possible to work DX stations especially when using CW and digital keyboard to keyboard modes. If you want to learn more about this compact antenna system, especially designed for apartment dwellers, just drop me an e'mail to inforhc at enet dot cu, again inforhc at enet dot cu.

And now as always at the end of the show, here is Arnie Coro's Dxers Unlimited 's HF propagation update and forecast. Do not expect sporadic E openings until about 8 weeks or even more from now, solar activity continues to be low, and the daytime maximum useable frequencies are correspondingly low too... The night time maximum useable frequency curve continues to exhibit its usual very sharp drop just after sunset, typical of the northern hemisphere winter season.

Don't forget to send your signal reports and comments about this and other RHC programs to inforhc at enet dot cu ...
(Arnie Coro/Radio Havana Cuba)

Radio Australia: Offshore Relays Part 2

Last week, here in Wavescan, we presented the first part in our two part sequence on the story of Radio Australia and its off-shore relays, and that was during the earlier eras. In our program today, we present the story of the off-shore relay facilities in use by Radio Australia in more recent time, and these relay facilities are specific attempts by Radio Australia to increase its reliable coverage into the many countries of Asia, and beyond.
We go back to the summer season of 1982/1983 and that was the time of a series of disastrous and lengthy bushfires in the states of eastern Australia and the state of South Australia. These wide spread fires resulted in a combined loss of $7 billion.
In fact, during this same fire season, a mobile reporter for the mediumwave station 5DN in Adelaide was on duty, reporting live from one of the fire fronts. It so happened that this journalist, Murray Nicoll, was in the locality of his own home in the nearby Mt Lofty Ranges, and he gave a live description over the air of the fires destroying his own home.
He declared: At the moment, I am watching my house burn down. I am sitting out on the roadway in front of my own house, where I have lived for the past 13 or 14 years, and it is going down in front of me. The flames are in the roof and everything around the house is black. There are fires burning all around me. The front section of the roof has fallen in, my water tanks are useless, and there is nothing I can do about it.
For a few days around early October 1982, Radio Australia took out a series of 30 minute relays via BBC shortwave facilities located in England and beyond in order to inform the world of the seriousness of these disastrous and destructive fires in several areas of Australia. These offshore, temporary relay transmissions were broadcast in England on high powered mediumwave, and also on half a dozen shortwave channels. At least one of these shortwave relays in England came from a 250 kW transmitter located at Woofferton and this was heard on 21590 kHz.
In addition, BBC shortwave transmitters located on the islands of Cyprus, Masirah & Ascension also carried this same programming relay regarding the bushfires in Australia. Radio Australia verified the relay of their programming from all of these different locations with their own QSL cards.
Beginning in the year 2001, Radio Australia added several new shortwave relay locations for their regular programming in order to present an improved signal into several countries of Asia. These relay stations were BBC Singapore, VOA Tinian, IBB Saipan & RTI Taiwan. Interestingly, according to contemporary reports, the relay broadcasts from the shortwave station located on Saipan Island were on the air for only one day, January 29, 2001. Next day, this shortwave programming was transferred to other relay sites. The relay service via Tinian was soon afterwards transferred to Al Dhabbaya in the United Arab Emirates, due to maintenance work at the station on Tinian.
During the same era, half a dozen mediumwave and shortwave transmitter locations on the island of Taiwan also carried program relays on behalf of Radio Australia. These relays via Taiwan are still on the air to this day, and the locations are listed as Tainan, Tanshui & Paochung.
The program feed for the transfer of this radio programming beginning in the year 2001 was provided by WRN, the World Radio Network in England, and at that stage, the Miami shortwave station WRMI was also re-broadcasting the WRN satellite radio programming, including the relay from Radio Australia. A QSL card in our Indianapolis collection dated April 23, 2001, verifies the relay of Radio Australia via WRMI.
Just last year, another offshore relay station was added to the overseas network in use by Radio Australia. This new facility is shortwave station T8WH, located on the island of Palau, way out east of the Philippines. Half a dozen shortwave channels are in use throughout the broadcast day, and the programming is beamed to China, Burma & Indonesia.
It will be remembered that station T8WH was established on Palau by High Adventure Ministries under the callsign KHBN. When Palau became fully independent, the callsign was changed to T8BZ, and after the station was sold to World Harvest Radio of South Bend in Indiana, the callsign was changed to T8WH.
It should also be remembered that Radio Australia fosters the development of FM relay stations throughout the Pacific Islands. They are operating two digital shortwave transmitters in the DRM mode at Brandon, south of Townsville in Queensland, at about 8 kW. The purpose of these two transmitters is to relay their programming to several different islands throughout the Pacific where the signal is received and re-broadcast on local FM.
It is known that a dozen or more of these local FM relay stations have been established on islands throughout the Pacific and each is receiving the programming via the DRM transmitters located on the north east coast of Australia.
Back in 2005, Radio Australia programming was also heard via the DRM digital mode with 35 kW on a shortwave channel at Rampisham in England.
As our final item regarding the offshore relay of Radio Australia programming, we report an interesting item from Jose Jacob VU2JOS at Hyderabad in India. He reported hearing Radio Australia on relay via a 100 kW shortwave transmitter located at Novosibirsk in Siberia. The frequency was 7460 kHz and the date was December 4, 2003. As he states, this was obviously a switching mistake somewhere along the line.
(AWR Wavescan/ NWS # 100 via Adrian Peterson)

Democratic Voice of Burma cuts programming

A reduction in funding for 2011 has forced the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), to cut some of its TV and radio programmes and lay off employees. Aye Chan Naing, the executive director of the DVB, told The Irrawaddy that the exile news agency’s TV entertainment programme and its daily morning radio programme will be cancelled in late February. It will also have to lay out some employees, he added.

DVB was founded in 1992 and has been funded by several international donors, particularly the Norwegian government. Aye Chan Naing said the DVB had lost 15 percent of its annual budget—down from 23 million Norwegian Krone (US $4 million) to about 20 million Krone. The DVB, however, will keep running its evening radio broadcast in Burmese. its 24-hour TV broadcast and its website, said Aye Chan Naing.
(Radio Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Weekly Propagation Forecast Bulletins


Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
:Issued: 2011 Jan 25 1925 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center
# Product description and SWPC web contact: www.swpc.noaa.gov/weekly.html
#
# Weekly Highlights and Forecasts
#
Highlights of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity
17 - 23 January 2011

Solar activity was at very low levels from 17 - 20 January. Region 1147 (N24, L=342, class/area Cso/170 on 20 January) was responsible for the majority of the activity during this period producing numerous B-class events. Region 1149 (N18, L=344, class/area Dsi/170 on 22 January) emerged late on 20 January and immediately started producing B-class events. Activity increased to low levels during 20 - 22 January as Region 1149 grew into a beta-gamma magnetic classification. Eight C-class flares were observed during this period with a majority coming from Region 1149. Region 1149 also produced the largest flare of the period which was a C3/Sf at 0416 UTC on 21 January. Activity decreased to very low levels on 23 January as both regions became quiet and stable.

No proton events were observed at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit was normal to moderate levels throughout the period.

Geomagnetic field activity ranged from predominantly quiet levels at lower latitudes to a few periods at minor storm levels at high atitudes. Mostly quiet periods predominate from 17 - 18 January. On 19 January, a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) moved into a geoeffective position. Observations from the ACE spacecraft indicated an increase in solar wind velocities from around 400km/s - 530km/s with the Bz component of the interplanetary
magnetic field generally varying between +/- 6 nT. Two periods at minor storm levels were observed at high latitudes on 19/0900-1500 UTC in response to the CH HSS. Predominantly quiet levels were observed for the rest of the summary period as the effects of the CH
HSS waned.

Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity
26 January - 21 February 2011

Solar activity is expected to be at very low to low levels during 26 - 30 January. Very low levels are expected for the remainder of the period.

No proton events are expected at geosynchronous orbit.

The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is expected to be at normal levels during 26 January - 04 February. Moderate to high levels are expected from 04 - 09 February. A return to normal to moderate levels is expected for the remainder of the period.

Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at predominantly quiet levels from 26 January - 02 February. Field activity is expected to increase to quiet to unsettled levels during 02 - 05 February due to a recurrent CH HSS. Predominantly quiet levels is expected to prevail for the remainder of the period.

Product: 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table 27DO.txt
:Issued: 2011 Jan 25 1925 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center
# Product description and SWPC web contact: www.swpc.noaa.gov/wwire.html
#
# 27-day Space Weather Outlook Table
# Issued 2011-01-25
#
# UTC Radio Flux Planetary Largest
# Date 10.7 cm A Index Kp Index
2011 Jan 26 82 5 2
2011 Jan 27 82 5 2
2011 Jan 28 80 5 2
2011 Jan 29 78 5 2
2011 Jan 30 78 5 2
2011 Jan 31 78 5 2
2011 Feb 01 78 5 2
2011 Feb 02 78 7 2
2011 Feb 03 78 10 3
2011 Feb 04 80 10 3
2011 Feb 05 80 7 2
2011 Feb 06 82 5 2
2011 Feb 07 82 5 2
2011 Feb 08 82 5 2
2011 Feb 09 82 7 2
2011 Feb 10 82 7 2
2011 Feb 11 82 5 2
2011 Feb 12 82 5 2
2011 Feb 13 82 5 2
2011 Feb 14 82 5 2
2011 Feb 15 82 5 2
2011 Feb 16 82 5 2
2011 Feb 17 82 5 2
2011 Feb 18 82 5 2
2011 Feb 19 82 5 2
2011 Feb 20 82 5 2
2011 Feb 21 82 5 2
(NOAA)

Czech Radio will broadcast Czech music for Sundays last broadcast

Radio Prague, which makes its final shortwave transmissions on 31 January, will continue to produce its 30-minute programmes in six languages. However the Head of Radio Prague, Miroslav Krupicka, has told the station’s English programme Mailbox that “We wanted to make the programme cheap and we’ll play music – Czech music on Sundays.”

A listener from the US enquired about the possibility of utilizing the longwave transmitter at Topolna [on 270 kHz] covering a large part of Europe for Radio Prague’s foreign language programmes for part of the day. However, Mr Krupicka said that was not an option: “It’s quite tough because currently, the longwave is allocated to domestic broadcasts. But overall, longwave is being considered for closure as well, for budgetary reasons, for financial reasons, because to maintain longwave and well as shortwave is quite expensive and Czech Radio cannot afford that. So probably the days of longwave broadcasting are numbered within Czech Radio as well. So there is no long term prospect for Radio Prague being on longwave.”

The complete transcript and audio of the programme is available on Radio Prague’s website.

(Radio Netherlands Media Network Weblog)

Friday, January 21, 2011

Zambia to restore Radio 1 and 2 following lightening strikes

Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation-ZNBC has assured Kapiri Mposhi residents, in the Central Province that work is on going to restore Radio 1 and 2 services.
Radio 1 and 2 channels have been off air since January 2 following lightening that struck off and destroyed Zamtel Equipment that carries the ZNBC Radio Signal.

Public Relations Officer Masuzyo Ndhlovu says following the impact of damage, there is a disruption of ZNBC 1 and 2 FM (Frequency Modulation) services in Kampiri Mposhi and Surrounding areas.

Public Relations Officer Masuzyo Ndhlovu however says frantic efforts are being made by the technical team to ensure service is restored to normal within shortest possible time.

In a statement to ZNBC News in Lusaka on Saturday, Mr Ndhlovu has advised listeners to search for signals by tuning into the ZNBC Short Wave frequencies for Radio 1 on 5915 Kilo hertz and Radio 2 on 6165 Kilo Hertz.(http://www.znbc.co.zm/media/news/viewnews.cgi?category=8&id=1295100450)
(Arnaldo Slaen/HCDX)