READING INTERNATIONAL RADIO GROUP The next meetings will be on June 5 and July 24 in Room 3, Reading International Solidarity Centre, 35-39 London Street, Reading at 2.30 p.m. For more information email me or phone 01462 643899.
AFGHANISTAN The US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) has issued a modification to its contract with Harris Corporation April 25 concerning a recently-installed BBG 200kw mediumwave transmitter in a remote location of Afghanistan operating 24 hours a day. Harris will now install additional generator capacity so that there is no downtime. Minimal US government security is provided at the site. (BBG via Media Network)
This appears to be the new transmitter carrying VOA’s Deewa Radio in Pashto into the Pakistan border area. According to a BBG document in July 2009, “an AM transmitter was being readied in Afghanistan whose signal was expected to extend significantly into the targeted region inside Pakistan. The transmitters are located in Afghanistan rather than in Pakistan because Pakistan Media Law is very restrictive in this matter.” (Andy Sennitt, ibid)
New transmitter logged May 2 on 621 around 1750, location is Tani-Khost, schedule is 0100-0400 and 1300-1900 in Pashto. (Alokesh Gupta, dx-sasia via DX Listening Digest)
Quite weak in Lahore, the local Radio Pakistan station is on 630 and almost covers the Deewa Radio frequency at times. (Aslam Javid, DX Listening Digest)
AUSTRALIA Regarding the item last month two 100 kW shortwave transmitters from CVC Darwin will replace two 100 kW transmitters at Shepparton. I know one higher powered shortwave transmitter from Darwin will go to another CVC site, which I'd imagine would be either Zambia or Chile.
Shepparton is take delivery of a new DRM shortwave transmitter. It will be essentially used as a feeder shortwave transmitter to feed local transmitter stations in the Asia Pacific region like RNZI does at present with its DRM shortwave transmitter.
As to new antennas this is news to me particularly as Radio Australia is a regional broadcaster, not a global one, and has not targeted Africa since the early 90’s. (Ian Baxter, Australia, DX Listening Digest)
Radio Symban will move its shortwave transmitter site from Marrickville to a site in Sydney's South West mid June. This will be the station's third site in just over two years as itattempts to find a suitable broadcast site. Interference problems to a local recording studio could not be satisfactorily resolved at the Marrickville location. (Ian Baxter, New South Wales, DX Listening Digest)
AZERBAIJAN Voice of Justice heard on 9677.3 April 24 in Azeri, sign on 1301 with interval signals, news and talks about the village of Hojala, instrumental music, address in Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Interval signal at 1331 and closedown. Demodulated. sounds like Cairo, Pakistan etc. (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Australian DX News via DXLD
Ädalätin Säsi Radiosu, Stepahakert, Nagorny Karabakh heard on 9677.5 April 10 at 0505 to 0527 off, Azerbaijani talk with some mentions of Karabakh, musical interludes, extremely distorted audio and transmitter hum, SINPO 55553. (Alexander Beryozkin and Mikhail Timofeyev, St. Petersburg, Russia, DX Window)
BHUTAN Bhutan Broadcasting Service is still using a 30kw reserve transmitter on 6035. On a visit to Bhutan I found it audible with fair to good reception, parallel to local FM frequencies. Heard signing on 0000, often with many breaks when attempting to get on the air with the usual Buddhist morning mass. (Anker Petersen, DX Window)
BRAZIL Radio Difusora Roraima heard reactivated on 4875.4 at 0337 to 0404 off April 29. Religious sounding talk in Portuguese, 0356 identification, presumed preacher before further identification and closedown announcements. Soft instrumental music bridge until choral national anthem. (Rich D’Angelo, Pennsylvania)
Radio Guaíba, Porto Alegre is back on 6000, heard at 1100 May 1 with a good signal. (Arnaldo Slaen, Argentina, DX Listening Digest)
The Brazilian Telecommunications Agency has issued an authorisation to the Padre Anchieta Foundation, an organization that develops educational radio and television programmes, for the testing of DRM. Tests will be done on 26040 with a bandwidth between 10 kHz and 20 kHz, in São Paulo. The tests will be conducted over a period of one year but may be extended. (Media Network)
Station heard in North East France on the afternoon of May 6 to 1620/1635, identification SP Modo A, programme Educacion, non stop music, was in DRM mono. (Marcel, drmrx forum)
Noted in Switzerland at 1430 May 7, signal got stronger so that by 1515 part of the identification/programme labels were seen. (Digger, ibid)
Two periods of low level reception May 7 in Bellingham, Washington. First at 1800-1900, second at 2030-0200. (Brendan Wahl, ibid)
It is a single frequency network using two stations. One was installed at Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) and the other at Fundação Padre Anchieta. I don’t know the co-ordinates of the stations or their power. (PP5AZF-Ataliba, São José, Brazil, ibid)
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC According to my sources
Radio ICDI night-time frequency will be 3390. Web-blog of Dan Anderson at http://danhcjb.org/ tells us that another transmitter will be installed by HCJB engineers as a gift for
Radio Centrafrique at Bangui-Bimbo site. Frequency not yet announced but probably 5035. The website also has photos of antenna installation at both sites. these two transmitters are low power, rated only as 1 Kw.
(Jari Savolainen, Finland, DX Listening Digest)
CHAD Radio Diffusion Nationale Tchadienne noted fading in at 1515 on 7120, also noted on the frequency at 1720. (Nils Schiffhauer, Germany, May 9/10 via Wolfgang Bueschel)
COSTA RICA I found a weak carrier on 5954.2 at 0046 May 2, this brings to mind the ELCOR transmitter-test frequency from Costa Rica heard here just over 2 years ago. (Glenn Hauser, DX Listening Digest)
Heard in Pennsylvania 2310 to past 0005 May 8 on 5954.2, tentative Elcor transmitter testing, non-stop English and Spanish pop ballads by Shakira and others. Brief Spanish announcement 2341. Good level but poor to fair overall signal quality due to adjacent channel splatter. (Brian Alexander, Cumbre DX)
Heard well here in Florida same night from 0028 to abrupt sign off 0158, no announcements but great signal. (Gerry Bishop, DX Listening Digest)
On May 11 they were heard from 0320 to 0359 off. (Mark Taylor, Wisconsin, NASWA yahoo group via DX Listening Digest)
Heard in the Netherlands May 13 at 0336 to 0357 sign off. Heterodyne with Radio Liberty 0300-0400 to Northern Caucasus on 5955. (Martien Groot, ibid)
Someone one told me told that it is situated in Guápiles, cantón de Pococí, provincia de Limón, and there is a political party involved on this. Time will reveal. (Raúl Saavedra, Costa Rica, ibid)
Noted the station easily in southern Germany May 14 on 5954.2 at 2330-2400. (Wolfgang Bueschel)
CROATIA Voice of Croatia moved from 7375 to 9925 May 10, scheduled 2200-0300 240 degrees from Wertachtal to South America, 2300-0300 300 degrees from Wertachtal to North and Central America, 0100-0500 325 degrees from Nauen to North America (west). (Glenn Hauser, DX Listening Digest)
CUBA U.S. government television and radio broadcasts to Cuba have failed to make "any discernible inroads into Cuban society or to influence the Cuban government," the majority staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said in a report released May 4. Although such programmes may "have noble objectives," Chairman John F. Kerry said, "we need to examine whether we're achieving them."
The report was the latest salvo in a years-long battle between congressional opponents of the broadcasting effort, who say it is a waste of money largely benefiting some members of the Cuban American community in Miami, and proponents, who insist that it is a useful adjunct to U.S. policy that provides unbiased reporting to the island. In his current budget request, President Obama proposed cutting funds for the Office of Cuba Broadcasting(OCB) for the second time since taking office, asking for $29.2 million to cover fiscal year 2011. But it has resisted calls, primarily from Democrats, for further cuts.
The principal disagreement is over how many Cubans who can receive the programming choose to do so. A 2007 audit by the inspector general of the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors found that "recent audience research indicates that more Cubans are tuning into the broadcasts." But a 2009 report by the General Accountability Office concluded that "the best available research indicates that OCB's audience size is small," and cited surveys indicating that fewer than 2 percent of Cubans tuned in to either station in a given week. (Washington Post via Mike Cooper, DX Listening Digest)
DJIBOUTI La Voix de Djibouti has a new time and frequency, still on Thursdays only, but now at 1200-1300 on 17880. Wolfgang Bueschel has researched the transmitter sites and 17880 he says is Samara, Russia. (Glenn Hauser, DX Listening Digest)
ERITREA On April 26 at 1515 Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea was heard on 4700 parallel to 7175 and 7185. All frequencies were blocked at 1600 by Ethiopian jamming. 7175 jumped to 7165 at 1615. (S. Hasegawa, Japan, DX Listening Digest)
On April 29 heard on 4710, parallel to 7100 and 7185, at 1831-1907. (Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal, DX Listening Digest)
ETHIOPIA Voice of Tigray Revolution noted on new 5940, ex 5980, May 30 and 31 from 0257 sign on to past 0325. Interval signal, talk and local music, very weak, stronger on parallel 5950 but mixing with Family Radio. (Brian Alexander, Pennsylvania, Cumbre DX)
FREE RADIO FRS Holland is preparing the 30th anniversary which will take place in October 2010. Five years ago, FRS would have been celebrating its 25th birthday but that celebration had to be cancelled due to personal circumstances.
We invite our listening audience to participate in the celebrations later this year. We'd like to receive your personal FRS memories. Put them on a sheet of paper or send them by mail and most wanted: record your personal message and send an mp3 audio file. All listeners` contributions will be collected and together it will be our anthology of 30 years of shortwave broadcasts. When did you hear us for the first time, what was your favourite show, when did you get your first QSL, how much did you listen to FRS, any special on air moments you remember? All this info could be part of your personal FRS contribution. For any serious contribution, we have a nice surprise and that is a promise!
We have to do a lot of preparations for that very special broadcast, we urge to send your contribution as soon as possible to frs@frsholland.nl or P O Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten, The Netherlands. (IrishPauls RadioBlog via Gary Drew, DX Listening Digest)
Laser Hot Hits is now using 3940, good signals 2140 May 23. (shortwavedx.blogspot.com)
GERMANY Radio Bremen issued a press release April 21 saying that 936 had closed for good. In the four weeks since it was switched off they received just under 200 reactions, so little feedback that they decided to spend the money on new technologies and programme formats. They had considered keeping the transmitter on the air on reduced power but the operational costs would be too high to justify it. As a gesture of appreciation the 200 listeners would be invited for an exclusive visit. (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX Listening Digest)
GUINEA Familia FM (105.3) in Guinea is broadcasting on shortwave 4900, first heard as an unidentified station by Carlos Gonçalves, Portugal on May 1 to past 2300 with French announcements, newscast 2210 till around 2235, West African pop music. A posting on the HCJB site said that: Radio Familia is a partner of HCJB Global that has run a local FM for several years now. They have much favour from the government and the new president. And now have been granted a low power shortwave license which is very rare in this region. They plan to reach the unreached Fula-Jalon people who have been very resistant to the gospel. Radio Familia already had donations for the equipment and HCJB Global is getting studios, transmitters and antennas for installation.
Station director Colette Baudais told me May 17 that they had been broadcasting intermittently since March and regularly since May 10. They have a 1kw transmitter built by HCJB and use an antenna that is 40 x 60 metres, most being buried in the ground and reflecting upwards, specifications say that the strongest signal would reach a 400 kilometre circumference around the antenna at midnight. Schedule is 1800-2400. There is no electricity where they are located so they are using solar and wind generators. Having enough energy for their transmitter and air-conditioner is proving one of the biggest challenges.
The transmitter is located some 400 km inland from the capital, Conakry. They stream the audio from Conakry online to Canada and from there up to satellite and the audio is picked up at the transmitter site. Plans are to add more wind generators and extend broadcast hours to 1800-0300. (Jari Savolainen, Finland, DX Listening Digest)
IRAN Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran Arabic schedule include relay of Hamas backed Al Quds TV 0230-0527 on 6025 7350 and 11660 and Voice of Palestine 0330-0427 on 9610 and 11875. (DX Mix News Bulgaria via Wolfgang Bueschel)
ISRAEL Galei Zahal heard on May 17 and 18 on new 5104 in USB at 0400 and also 1900+, good signal, parallel to 6973. (Zacharias Liangas, Greece)
On May 21 at 1947 I noted Galei Tzahal on 6821USB, 5104 not heard. 6821 was a lot stronger than parallel 6973. (Jari Savolainen, Finland, DX Listening Digest)
ITALY Radio Maria, Andrate, Italy is on the air again and back to 26000 from 26010, heard at 1500 May 1. It is in AM with low power, around 50 watts. (Giampiero Bernardini, Milano, PLAYDX, DX Listening Digest)
JORDAN Radio Jordan in Arabic is broadcasting at 0500-0715 on 11960, 1030-1130 on 15290, 1745-2015 on 9830. Scheduled transmissions at 0345-0715 and 1030-1300 on 11810 are currently off air. (WRTH update via DX Listening Digest)
KURDISTAN Two different stations under the same name, Voice of Iranian Kurdistan, were noted at 0305 on April 22 on 3922 and 4878. (Rumen Pankov, Radio Bulgaria DX programme via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia, DX Listening Digest)
KUWAIT There has been a two year delay in installing a 600kw medium wave transmitter for US broadcasts to Iran. The $5.2 million project was initially meant to be operational by May 2008. Existing medium-wave transmitters in Kuwait can only reach a narrow band of the western portion of Iran. Testing and final commissioning of the transmitter is scheduled for May 2010 and the transmitter should be ready to go operational by the autumn of 2010. The delays hurt US efforts to broadcast news and information to Iran in crucial periods during the 2009 election and the following civil unrest. (CNN via kimandrewelliott.com via DX Listening Digest)
LIBERIA Star Radio is conducting tests on 4025. The transmitter I built is small, 2,500 watts, but I tried to make up for it with antenna gain, as they had specific areas they wanted to cover. The whole transmission system was designed as a "kit". They all came to the factory and I took them step-by-step through the transmitter install, tower erection, and tuning the antenna system. The transmitter is a Solid State Class E modulated via a Pulse Width Modulator. Power out is continuously adjustable from 0 to 2,500 watts. The antenna is a "Bow-Tie" dipole, fed with Open-Wire Line, and a Link-Coupled Antenna Tuning Unit. Antenna height is approximately 50 feet. (Jamie Labadia, DX Listening Digest)
MONACO Radio Monaco is still on the air, with news in French: 1100-1103 Monday to Friday on 4363 8728 13146 17260 in USB. (Christian Ghibaudo, Nice, France, DXLD)
MYANMAR Myanma Radio heard on 7200, ex 7185.7 variable, at 1322 May 25 in vernacular, at 1330 became parallel to 5915 with lectures provided by the Minorities and Distance Learning Service. (Ron Howard, California, Cumbre DX)
NEW ZEALAND Radio New Zealand International has received no additional funding in the latest government budget for 2010/2011. Funding remains at NZ$1.9m [US$1.26m] and it's required to deliver 16 hours of good quality reception daily to a minimum of 11 Pacific nations with one 100kW analogue transmitter installed in 1990 and one 100kW digital capable transmitter installed in 2005. (David Ricquish, Radio Heritage Foundation)
OMAN Radio Sultanate of Oman A10 schedule is English 0300-0400 on 15355, 1400-1500 on 15140, Arabic 0200-0300 on 15355, 0400-1000 on 7405, 1500-2200 on 15140. (Alokesh Gupta, Cumbre DX)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA Radio Fly, a community FM broadcaster funded and operated by Ok Tedi Mining Limited, is now being heard here on two shortwave frequencies - 3915 and 5960. Japanese DXers first reported the latter frequency on 18 May.
Noted here in the evening at 0800. Both frequencies provide poor to fair reception, not helped by above average atmospheric static levels. The 75 metre band frequency additionally suffers from radio amateur interference at times. I have also heard Radio Fly on 5960 at 2000 through co-channel China Radio International. (Bryan Clark, New Zealand, DXLD)
Radio Fly told me that these shortwave transmissions started early May. There are two transmitters, one at Tabubil and one at Kiunga. (Jari Savolainen, Finland, ibid)
PERU Radio Bethel heard several times on 5921.2 around 0035 early May, thanks to Henrik Klemetz for identifying the station, after 0050 reception impossible due to a carrier on 5920. (Arne Nilsson, Sweden, SW Bulletin via Thomas Nilsson, DX Listening Digest)
It’s presumably a relay from their station in Arequipa, ex 5940 and 5950. Programmes are from Lima. Anders Hultqvist received a prompt reply in English for a report in Spanish, there’s a reception report box on their website, www.bethelradio.fm (Henrik Klemetz, ibid)
PHILIPPINES QSL received for my reception of Radyo Pilipinas, Overseas Service in English on 15285 0200-0330, full data verification card received in 60 days. Unusual size and shape, 8.5" x 3.125", with letter, English/Filipino schedule and large colourful station sticker. They invited further reports via e-mail to radio_pilipinas_overseas@yahoo.com or radyo-pilipinas-overseas@yahoo.com. Address: Philippine Broadcasting Service, DZRP Radyo Pilipinas Overseas, 4/F PIA Bldg., Visayas Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines. (Bruce Jensen, California, Prime Time Shortwave Yahoo group via DXLD)
Regarding last months report of Radio Veritas being heard from 1500 on 15350 in Tagalog and English this is the relay via Vatican, 130 degrees back to the Middle East. (Glenn Hauser, DX Listening Digest)
POLAND Polish Radio has changed from 9655 to 9770 for its 1700-1800 transmission in English as of May 5th. Slawek Szefs reported on May 7th in Multitouch that this was due to a complaint from another broadcaster of severe interference. (Alan Roe, Edwin Southwell, Jonathan Murphy)
RUSSIA Voice of Russia heard June 1 in English at 0038 on 7440, very good signal and audio compared to 9890. Their website now shows this frequency is used 0000-0200 to North America. (Harry Brooks, England, DX Listening Digest)
7440 is Radio Ukraine International’s frequency to North America 0000-0200, inactive for a couple of months but expected to resume. Was this done with the blessing of Ukraine for the time being or are we in for a big collision? (Glenn Hauser, ibid)
SAUDI ARABIA BSKSA Riyadh heard in English at 0750 on 17785 with From the Press programme on April 22 followed by their schedule for English, French and Bengali broadcasts. (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Australian DX News via DX Listening Digest)
The broadcast goes into French at 0800, trouble is only the French is supposed to be on shortwave but English frequently reported here as they turn on the transmitter early. (Glenn Hauser, DX Listening Digest)
Monitored BSKSA shortwave schedule March 28 to April 24:
Main programme in Arabic: 0550-0855 on 17730 17740, 0855-1155 on 15490 17805, 1155-1455 on 17705 21505, 1800-2255 on 9555 9870.
Call of Islam in Arabic: 1500-1755 on 15225 15435.
Holy Koran service in Arabic: 0300-0955 on 9715, 0300-0555 on 15170, 0300-0755 and 1155-1455 on 17895, 0555-0855 and 1155-1355 on 15380, 0855-1155 on 11935 17570, 0855-1150 and 1255-1555 on 17615, 0955-1355 on 11785 with buzz sound, 1155-1355 on 17625, 1455-1755 on 13710, 1555-1755 on 15205 17560, 1755-2255 on 11820 11915 11930.
Radio Riyadh and Radio Jeddah relays: 0745-0800 English and 0800-0955 French on 17785, 1000-1230 English on 15250, (?1230?)-1400 Bengali on 15120, 1400-1600 French on 17660.
Foreign services: 0400-0655 Swahili on 15285, 0900-1155 Indonesian on 21670, 1200-1355 Urdu on 13775, 1200-1230 and 1400-1455 Bengali on 15120, 1500-1755 Farsi on 7240, 1600-1755 Bambara on 17560, 1800-2055 Turkish on 9675. (Rumen Pankov, Bulgaria, Australian DX News via DX Listening Digest)
SERBIA The Avala Tower, one of the trademarks of the Serbian capital, was ceremoniously opened April 21 by the Belgrade Mayor who said that the building represented a symbol of future. The opening ceremony was also attended by Serbian Patriarch Irinej, who emphasised that the Avala Tower represented the symbol of love and creativity of a people. He recalled that no one had ever built a monument to those who tear down monuments, but had to those who built them. He described the tower as a symbol of restoration, as Serbia is like a phoenix rising from ashes.
The new tower is 204.5 metres tall and is taller by a metre than the old one, torn down [sic] during NATO bombing. It has many functions for use, telecommunication, for establishing a digital TV system and will also be transmitting all signals required for the army, police, televisions and mobile stations. Its construction cost some 10 million Euros and, besides the Serbian government and the city authorities, more than one million citizens donated funds for the restoration of the tower. (Glassrbije.org via Sergei S., DXLD)
SOUTH AFRICA Channel Africa noted on unscheduled 4880 May 16 at 2230 in Swahili, French 2300-2355 and English from 0000. Test or maybe Channel Africa is extending broadcasts for the World Cup? (Alan Pennington, Caversham, DX Listening Digest)
SYRIA Radio Damascus back on 2 frequencies May 4, 9330 with a good reception at 1903 tune in with French parallel to 12085. I've been hearing 9330 with a good signal for the past two weeks. Transmitters finally repaired? (J M Aubier, France, DX Listening Digest)
TAJIKISTAN Voice of Tajik schedule is now Tajik 0200-0400, Farsi 0400-0600, Dari 0600-0800, Russian 0800-1000, Uzbek 1000-1100, Hindi 1100-1200, Arabic 1200-1300, English 1300-1400, Tajik 1400-1600, Farsi 1600-1800, all on 1143 and 7245. (WRTH update via DX Listening Digest)
THAILAND VT Group, which transmits the BBC World Service, has been presented with the Professional Services Award at this year’s BBC Global News Reith Awards for its exceptional effort in protecting the BBC Asia relay station in Thailand from severe flooding and maintaining transmission.
The site, located in the Nakhon Sawan province in Northern Thailand, is owned by the BBC and operated by 29 VT Group staff. The building faced major damage and the staff were also in danger after extreme rainfall in the region caused authorities to divert flood waters from dams to protect the population of Bangkok and other urban areas. However, as a result, the transmitting station was in the direct path of the diverted flood waters and desperate action was needed to protect the site and staff. Hundreds of tons of sand were packed into bags to protect site buildings and inside doors were sealed and additional barriers erected.
Once the flood waters began to rise there was nothing more staff could do as the site was breached and eventually the safety of the equipment was compromised. There was no alternative but to cease all broadcasts and to find alternative ways to transmit in appropriate quality. The decision to close the site triggered the VT planned emergency response. Within 30 minutes, all on-air transmissions had been placed at alternative VT transmitting stations. Site staff even enlisted the help of the Thai army who worked with volunteer staff to reinforce the sand-bag wall, operate the pumps and control water ingress. The building stood secure and essential power was maintained until the waters subsided and a clean-up plan was put in place, using local staff to ensure a cost-effective and efficient solution.
Subsequent work upgraded flood defences, including the re-design and re-laying of drains around the station to control any ingress of water better, strengthening the perimeter wall and raising the height of equipment in the antenna field.
VT Group General Manager Communications John Prior explained: “Inspirational leadership and great teamwork avoided a potential disaster. Although there was a threat to the homes of many staff, they remained on site to lead the efforts there. If the water had entered the building, it would have affected the equipment. BBC transmissions from the site would have been off air for months and the financial costs of repair would have been enormous. The response of the staff was really beyond the call of duty.” (VT Group via Media Network)
TURKMENISTAN On May 5 at 1750 I noted Turkmenistan again active on 5015 with strong signal and mostly good modulation. It's mainly USB mode. (Jari Savolainen, Finland, DX Listening Digest)
UKRAINE The May edition of Hello from Kyiv in answer to an email from James Olson in Ohio asking them to reinstate the North American service on shortwave said: “Radio Ukraine International never stopped shortwave broadcasting to any direction but its signal may not be audible in North America and some other places due to temporary technical problems. Our managers and engineers say everything's going to be OK soon". (Mike Barraclough)
On May 27 they emailed me saying: Thank you very much for your interest to Radio Ukraine International. We have been off shortwave for a while now but we hope to return soon. We are sorry for the listening inconvenience you have experienced. We invite you to listen to our programs on-line at www.nrcu.gov.ua. (Alan Roe)
UNITED KINGDOM Latest RSL’s from the Ofcom website:
Ballymoney: Fuse FM 106.2 June 26 to July 23
Bexhill on Sea: Bexhill FM 87.7 July 10 to 16
Biggleswade: Biggles FM 104.8 June 18 to July 15
Bo’ness: Valley FM 87.7 June 15 to 26
Bury: BOSC FM 87.7 July 7 to 9
Carrickfergus: Carrickfergus FM 107.6 June 16 to July 3
Cosford: Radio Cosford 87.9 June 11 to 13
Feckenham: WAKE 87.9 June 23 to 27
Goodwood: Radio Goodwood 87.7 July 1 to 4
Hartley Wintney: Radio Hartley Wintney 87.7 June 10 to 20
Highbridge: Highbridge Family Radio 87.7 June 11 to 13
Kilbirnie: GVFM 87.9 June 1 to 28
Leeds: Rothwell Carnival Radio 87.7 July 9 to 15
Leeds: Roundhay Radio 87.7 June 26 to July 2
Leicester: Amritsar Radio 95.1 May 31 to June 27
Lincolnshire Showground: Lincs FM 107.8 June 22 to 24
Lune Valley and Barrow: Agility FM 87.7 June 26 to July 4
Mallory Park, Leicester: BSB Radio 87.7 June 25 to 27
Mallory Park, Leicester: Radio Mallory 1602 June 25 to 27
Manchester: FM Manchester Radio 87.9 July 11 to August 7
Mansfield: YMCA Digital Mansfield 87.7 June 3 to 30
Newcastle upon Tyne: Pride Radio 87.9 June 21 to July 18
Newton Heath: Agility FM 87.7 June 19 to 20
Peterborough: Zephyr FM 87.7 July 6 to 23
Pudsey: PGFM 99.9 June 14 to 26
Romney Marsh: Romney Marsh FM 87.8 June 7 to July 4
Shepton Mallet: Worthy FM 87.7 June 20 to 28
Sydenham: Sydenham Community Radio 106.8 June 27 to July 24
Waddington: Airshow FM 87.7 June 21 to July 4
Wallasey: Ice Radio 87.7 July 3 to 9
Whitchurch: Whitchurch FM 87.9 June 5 to 13
Whitstable: Red Sands Radio 87.7 July 3 to 30
Wimbledon: Radio Wimbledon 87.7 June 19 to July 5
Wimbledon: Radio Wimbledon Centre Court 96.3 June 21 to July 4
Wimbledon: Radio Wimbledon Number 1 Court 97.8 June 21 to July 4
Watchtower Convention RSL’s will broadcast on 87.7 from Bournemouth June 17 to 20, Cardiff July 15 to 18, Coventry July 8 to 11, Gillingham June 24 to 27, Leeds July 8 to 11, Manchester July 1 to 4, Newcastle June 17 to 20, Norwich July 15 to 18, Nottingham June 17 to 20, Perth July 15 to 18, Plymouth July 22 to 25, Stoke July 1 to 4, and Twickenham July 29 to August 1.
UK Rocks The World did a further transmission to North America 1500-1600 on 15760 May 16. Many reports of good reception in North America in DX Listening Digest, also heard well by Arnaldo Slaen in Argentina, Raúl Saavedra in Costa Rica, Alokesh Gupta in India and Victor Goonetilleke in Sri Lanka.
The BBC attracts a record weekly global audience of 241 million people to its international news services like BBC World Service and the BBC World News television channel, according to independent surveys. This is up three million on last year's overall audience estimate. However, the multimedia BBC World Service lost 20 million short wave radio listeners during the year; reflecting the increasing global decline of the medium. But during the year BBC World Service attracted around nine million new viewers to its television, online and mobile services; in addition to new listeners to BBC radio programmes through local FM and medium wave radio partner stations in a number of countries.
BBC Global News Director, Peter Horrocks, said: "The continued dramatic decline in short wave listening shows that those audiences are rapidly changing the way they access international news. Unless BBC World Service can accelerate its response to those changes, it will face a rapid deterioration of its impact as other technologies become more prominent in international media markets."
The audience losses were mainly due to a sharp overall decline in short wave radio listening during the year. Radio audience losses were particularly dramatic in Bangladesh (-7 million), India (-8.2m), and Nigeria (-2.9 m). However, there were significant radio audience gains in Tanzania (+1.4m), and the US (+ 600,000), mainly through BBC programmes being used on local FM and medium wave radio partner stations. BBC World Service continued to have strong impact in Afghanistan, where BBC audiences are 10 million; and in Iraq where the BBC reaches 4.5 million people each week. In Burma, the BBC now reaches 8.5 million listeners, up 1.4 million on the last survey. (BBC Press Office)
Senior managers at Bush House said that spending cuts announced by the coalition government translated into a 3 per cent cut in the budget of the Foreign Office, which currently funds the World Service to the tune of £272million
"Where people have access to our programmes on FM, they shift to that platform and they no longer use shortwave," Peter Horrocks said. "There is a powerful symbolism about universal availability, but if people haven't got the [shortwave] sets and they aren't listening, keeping it going for its own sake, for metaphysical reasons, doesn't make a lot of sense.". Mr Horrocks said that countries such as Burma and Somalia, where there was no prospect of a substitute for shortwave, would remain covered "for the foreseeable future". But in the next five years, other shortwave services were likely to be phased out, although no final decisions on which have been made because future funding is unclear. (Financial Times)
UNITED STATES VOA has always been quite a good verifier. Sadly over recent months this seems to have changed as I and some others I know of are getting no response at all and queries to VOA regarding this are unanswered. (Ian Cattermole, New Zealand, Cumbre DX)
I have given up sending any reception reports to the Voice of America direct to Washington D.C. address as they simply do not verify any reports. Yet, if you send a report direct to any one of their relay sites (Thailand, Sao Tome) in most cases you will get a reply from the site itself. (Edward Kusalik, Alberta, ibid.)
Voice of America has new English programming. VOA News Now is no more. In its place VOA has launched new regional programming for East/South Asia and the Middle East. (Kimandrewelliott.com via DX Listening Digest)
WWCR went off air May 2 due to power outage and flooding. Nashville received 18 inches of rainfall in two days. WWCR’s transmitters and buildings were spared the floodwaters the transmitter field for the four transmitters, and its medium wave sister station, flooded to a level estimated at between 15 and 20 foot depth. On May 5 transmitters 2, 3 and 4 were brought back on air.
On May 7 the water level had dropped by 10 feet and about half the grass in the field was exposed to the sky. All 4 transmitters were back in service. They still had no telephone or internet service. They brought in a mobile hotspot device to download many programmes which were delivered via the internet.
On May 8 transmitters 1 and 4 were unable to continue into Saturday morning. Transmitter 1 has a matching stub connected to its rhombic antenna; the only one of WWCR's antennas to have one. It was submerged in floodwaters but did not present problems initially when transmitter 1 was brought back up. On Saturday smoke was seen rising from the matching stub. Remarkably, it was rebuilt from varied parts already on the property. Transmitter 1 and the matching stub functioned as normal when brought back on air. Transmitter 4 was brought back on-air May 12. (Glenn Hauser, WWCR website updates via DX Listening Digest)
WRTH update May 14 and 19 report that one of KNLS’s transmitters is inactive. Following transmissions are not on the air: Chinese 1300-1400 on 9795, all English transmissions except 1200-1300 on 7355 and all Russian transmissions. (Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
AFRTS Hawaii 10320USB continues to be off the air. Their website shows what we have known for a long time now: “Out of service for an indefinite period”. (Ron Howard, California, Cumbre DX)
VATICAN Vatican Radio is now using 11850, ex 7335, for the 0040-0200 broadcast in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and English. (Alokesh Gupta, Cumbre DX)
ZIMBABWE Voice of the People via Radio Netherlands Madagascar relay is now using 9875, ex 9895, at 0400-0500 in English, Shona and Ndebele. (DX Mix News, Bulgaria via Wolfgang Bueschel)
CONTRIBUTORS: Germany: Wolfgang Bueschel, Greece: Zacharias Liangas, Ireland: Jonathan Murphy, United Kingdom: Alan Roe, Edwin Southwell. MIKE
