09 September 1998

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Transcript of 09 September 1998

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  • (Jnitpring'------- Fimes 1M

    CONTENTS

    Zambia's Christian Voice ....................................... 12

    By Ron Perron

    Everything Chinadocs is done inabig way, says the author.andChina Radio International is no exception. In an era whe n othergovern ments are cutting back on broadcasting, China is just nowreapi ng the frui t of a decade of investment into its "bridge to thewo rld," The author wa s privileged to visit CRt's new facilities first-hand .

    By Colin Miller

    The fi rst independent radio station in Zam-bia u he formerNorthern Rhodesia)beganbroad-casting on shortwave at the end of 1994 . Rad ioChristian Voice is the project of Chri stian Vi-sion. a nondenominational and internationalcha rily board based in Britain. Rad io Chris tianVoice demonstratesa rather unusual degree of cooperation between governmentand relig ion. but Zambia is a rather unusual country.

    Take aShortwave DXpedition 20

    ChinaRadioInternational 16

    September 1998Vol. 17, No.9

    Cover Story

    11re Happy Hobbyist

    By Hans Johnson

    Reviews:The Motorol a TulkAbout Plus FR S transceiver del ivers first-rate

    . . pe rformance and exceptiona lly loud aud io says Ell io tt (p .7 1): plus it' fun:"Truly a sight forsoreeyes !" says Skip Are)' of theMFJ Giani Display clock (1'.85) Magn e says AORclearly tried to make the AR5000+3 a strongercontender on shortwave than most DC-tn-daylightreceivers ... with partial success (p.89),

    In the never-ending search for more distant signals (DX), the hobbyist willrind it of benefit to change his base of operat ions - in other words, go on aDXpedi tion.

    By Mike Bryson

    II' you thought nothing serious could come in akit. th ink again. The Ten-Tee SSB-CW AM receiverkit is about a 25-hour project, divided into logicalphases whichcanbe tested everystepof thc way.Theresult is a decent receiver at a real bargain - if you know what you're doing.

    The Ten-Tee Shortwave Receiver Kit 22

    As the shortwave bands areopening up , so are the eyes of thisfairl y recent co nvert to shortwaveli st ening. This is not an HFband scan in the stric t sense of theword, but more like a scan of theaut hor' s journ ey into the short-wa ve spectrum. If you're not intoshortwave listening already, theauthor's enthusiasm will makeyou anxious to start - and co ndi-tions were never better! Storystarts on page 8.

    O ur cover photo is of two 12-year-o lds from Stockholm, Swe-den, Sonja and Gabriel, " lis ten-ing to shortwave broadcast trans-missions using the general cover-age receive r built in the ICOMIC751A transceiver," says pho-tog rap her Henryk Ko to visk i ,SMOJHF. (' T hey are tempted touse the microphone - but theyare not allowed," )

    Cover by John Bailey

  • Art DirectorBelinda McDonald

    Assistant EditorLorry Van Horn, N5FPW

    Postmaster:Sendaddresschanges 10 Monitoring Times,P.O. Bcx 98. Brosstcwn, NC 28902-0098 .

    OwnersBob and Judy Grove

    [email protected]

    On the Ham Bonds 70The Cherokee 6 Meter Hand-held

    And More! 7 1Motorola's TalkAbout+FRS

    Antenna Topics 72The Right Antenna lor the Frequency

    Experimenters Workshop 74Updale on Computer Nelworking

    KIS Radio 76A SimpleAntenna lor Shortwave

    NEW! MilCam 78Welcome to MilitoI)' Monitoring

    Plane Talk 80Curious about theConcorde?

    What's New 82Review 85

    MFJ Giant Display Calendar ClockScanning Equipment 86

    Orange Book of Scanner RepairMagne Tests 88

    AOR's ARSOOO+3 ReceiverComputers & Radio 90

    Cosio's Hand PC & WindowsCEletters 92Stock Exchange 94Closing Comments 96

    Media Muddles

    EDITORIAL STAFF Correspondence to columnists maybl: mcfled clo MonitonngTimes, anyrequest for a reply should include on SASE.

    DEPARTMENTS

    Washington Whispers 4Radio Free Berkeley Unplugged

    Communications ......................... ..... 6Scanning Report 26

    The DigilallnvasionU~l ityWorld 30

    USAFMacDi//'s lost Sign-offDigitol Digest 33

    Addressing ACARSGlobal Forum __ 34

    The Problem with Digitol SWQSl Report 38

    China Radio Int'I...A Bridge to theWorldEnglish lang SW Guide 39Prapogatian Conditions 60

    Make this page work lor youProgramming Sporlight 6 1

    Make a Resolution to WriteBeginner's Comer 62

    Planning lor the Shortwave SeasonAsk Bob 64

    Quieling the SP-200 ClickBelow 500 kHz 66

    lF Book; Moreon the TitanicAmerican Bondsccn ......................... 67

    OX PredictionsOuter limits 68

    ODXA Expands Scope Outside Canada

    Frequency Manager Goyle Von Horn goyle@gro e.netFrequency Monitors Dav id Dotko, Mork J. FineProgram Mona ger Jim Frimmel .. frimmel@stortelegrom comAmerican Bcndsccn Doug Smith, W9WI . . w9w i@bellsouth netAnd More! Jack Elliott KB2GOM [email protected] Topics . W. Clem Smoll, KR6A [email protected]'s Corner T.J. Arey, WB2GHA [email protected] 500 kHz .. Ke in Corey, W B2QMY [email protected] ond Rad io John Catalano . [email protected] Digest Bob E en s [email protected]'s W kshp Bill Chee k..... .......... . bcheek@san .rr .comFederal File . John Fulford, W A4VPY . .. [email protected]. Radio Richerd Arlond, K7SZ k7sz@juna .netMagne Tests Lowrence MogneOn the Ham Bonds Ike Kerschner, N JIKO uter Limits . Geor ge Zeller .. . Geo rge.Zelle [email protected] Front Line Don Veeneman da n@decode .comPlane Ta lk . Jeon Boker, KIN 9DDProgromming Spotlight John Figliozzi, KC2BPU jfiglio l @nycap.rr.comPropogotion Jo cqves d'Av ignon [email protected] SL Corner .. G ayle Von Horn . [email protected] Equipment Bob Porna ss, AJ9SSconning Report Richard Barnell [email protected] Broadcosting . G lenn Houser [email protected] Broadca st Logs Goyle Von Horn [email protected] World . Hugh Stegmon, N V6 H dri [email protected] shington W hispers f red Mo ia, W5YI fmaio@internelM Cl.com

    NOTE: The Grove Enterprises internet address ha s changed. To find 011 your fovorite pages follow thelinks from www.gro ve.net c r try the new address www.grove -ent.com to find the M oniforing Timesweb pcqes.

    MONITORING TIMES(ISSN: 0889-5341;CPC IPN Soles Agree-ment # 1253 4921 ispublished month y byGrove Enterprises, Inc.Brasstown, NorthCarolina, USA.

    Copyright 1998. Periodicals postage paida t Brasstown , Ne, and a dditional mailingoffices. Short excerpts may be reprintedwith a ppropriate cred it. Complete articlesmay notbe reproduced without permission.

    Advertis ing Svcs.Beth Leinbach

    (8281 [email protected]

    PublisherBob Grove, WBJHDbgro [email protected]

    Disclaimer:W hile Monitoring Times makes on effor l loensure the information it pub lishes is occu-rate, it ca nnot be held liab le for the contents.The reader a ssumesa ny risk for performin gmodification or construction projects pub-Iished in Monitoring Times. Opinion orconclusions expressed are not necessarilythe view of Monitoring Times or GroveEnterpr ises. Unsolici ted man uscript s areaccepted . SASE ifmateria l is to bereturned.

    Managing EditorRachel Baughn, KE40PD

    mtedi [email protected]

    Address: P.O. 80x 98. 7540Highway 6AWest.Brasstown. NC 28902-0098

    Telephone: (828) 837-9200Fox: (828) 837-2216 (24 hours)Intemel Address: web:www.grove-ent.com

    or e-mcil: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]: orcJe,(@grove.nef

    Subscription Rates: $23.95 in US; $36.50Canada; a nd $55.4 5 foreign elsewhere, USfunds. lobel indicates lost issue of subscrip-tion. Seepage 95 forsubscriptioninformation.

    Of-f

    2 MONITORING TIMES Seplembe, 1998

  • Only Sony can turn your PC intoawatchdogof the airwaves with the SonyRadio Frequency Scanner and CDROMfrequency database.Use theSony Radio Frequency Scanner with PCtmcrracc ami he Iorewamed about approachingwea ther systems, traf fic conditionsand emergencysituations. You can even get inside information atsome of your favori te sporting events.TheSonyCil- Rm l gil'es you easy access 10 listings of 3 millionU.S. frequencies. It makes scanning fast- and easy.A unique hi-directional PCInterface lets you usc yourPClOcontrol all theSony Radio Frequency Scanner'sstnndard functions,as well as its special features,inclnding:.20 programmahie Scanning Ranges. Virtually unlimitedMemory andSkip Preference Files. Data lmport and Export betweenScanner and l'C, A searchable CD-ROM database of over 3 million

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  • By Fred Maia, [email protected]

    Free Radio Berkeley UnpluggedOn Jun e 16. U.S. Distri ct Cou rt Judge

    Claudia Wilken (Northern District. Califor-nia ) issued a permanent injunc tion aga instStephen P. Dunifcr from broadcasting with-out a licen se. Th e 18-page deci sio n reaffirm sthe Federa l Communicat ions Co mmiss ion'saut hority to req uire a licen se before any per-son can bro adca st on the publi c airwaves.

    Dunifcr. a broadcast engineer . had oper-ated the community FM station Free Radi oBcrkeley (FRB I on 104. 1 MHz since 1993.without payi ng a $:20.000 fine imposed by theFCC for unlicensed operat ion. The stationlen the air after the judge issue d her injunc-tion.

    Dunifcr supports himself by assemblingand shipping hackpack-sized radio kits aroundthe globe . The kits enable peop le to broadcastfor as little as 5 1.000 plus the monthly powerbi ll -witho ut a license. ofcourse. One of hiscu stomers is the United Nations. Dun iferfoster ed a "micro rad io" mo vem ent of una u-thorize d stations. more tha n 200 of whichhave been shut down by the FCC in the lasttwo years .

    FCC Cha irman William Kennard . whohas publicly conceded some sympathy forsmall. lo w-power broadcas ters . ha iled the"d eci sive co urt ac tion" that "puts to rest anydoubts about the FCC's authority to man agethe publi c a irwa ves to prevent interferenceand pro tec t the publi c ' s safcty.t' T he inj unc-tion . he said. "should send a message to allpi rate bro adcasters: obey the law - and jointhe FCC in our- efforts to expand the legal usesof the publ ic airwaves : '

    (His latter comment is peculi ar . bec ausethe FCC has not proposed to expand microradio broadcasting nor to make it legal. It hasexpanded the flexibility of licen sees in otherservices . but they have paid billi ons of do llarsa t spec tru m auctions . The FCC has pro posedto also auc tion rad io und TV broadcast li-cc nscs.)

    The Com mission sought an inj unc tionagain st Dunifer in 1995. Judge Wi lke n de-nied the FC C request at that tim e so that theco urt could latera ddress Dumler ' s compla intsthat the FCC 's licensing policies arc uncon-stitution ul. FRB continued to broadcast untilthe injunction wa s issued. Dunifcr has defi edthe FCC because he claims their reg ulat ion s

    agai nst micro-power radi o broadcastin g denycitize ns access to a resource they arc sup-posed to own - the airwaves.

    "P sychologically. her denial ofan injun c-tion at that time W

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  • ARRL Proposes SweepingChanges

    During the annual Amateur Radio RelayLea gue (A RRL) Board of Directors meetinghel d Jul y 1 6~ IS in Rocky Hill. Connecticut. thed irecto rs agreed to prop ose a simplified amateurlicense struc ture with only four cl asses. Underthe League proposal the re would only he fourwritten exam inat io n cle ments instea d o f thepresen t five. and (\,,.0 Mors e code exa minationclements (5 and 12 wpm) instead of the presentthree .

    Unde r the new plan. the entry le vel licen sefor ham rad io \vould he kno wn as Class D andwo uld co nvey the same priv ileges as the curre ntno-code Te chni cian licen se. All no-code ham swould be conv erted 10 C lass D licenses.

    All amateurs now lice nsed as Ge ne ral.Tech-nician Plus, and Nov ice would be converted 10the Class C license. ca rryin g the same privi legesas the current Ge nera l cla ss licen se. To upgradefro m Class D to Class C an amateur would ha veto pass a written exam and live word per minuteMorse code examination. Expanded phone bandprivileges in the 80. 40. and 15 meter bandswould be avai lable since Nov ice C\V ban dswould Il O longer be required .

    The third step would be known as Class B.equal to the prese nt Advanced c lass lice nse. To

    Sept 12: Monroe. NCUnio n Co ARC Hamfest & Co mpu ter Fair atthe Nationa l G uard Armory. Monroe. Talk-in145.39(-) and 444.425(+), Ba.m-ap .m. $4 ad-mission. Walk-in VE testing . Peggy KnightN4MMM , (704) 764-7279, l'eggy33@Iw rmail.com

    Sept 19 - 20: Air Force Anniversary QSOOn -air ga the ring of active and fanner mcm -bers o f the Air Force, See http :/ /ourworld.compuserve .com/homepageslk5xs. Enco urages o perution on frequenciesending in "47 " to celebrate 1947. the year ofthe formatio n of the Air Force as a separatese rvice. Spo nso red by Razorback Rad io Club,604 Ju lian Avenue. Honolulu, HI 968 18. e-mail k51IOg@ao/.com or k5xs@compusen'e.com

    Sept 19-20: Anchorage, AKAla ska State Conve ntion, sponso red by An-chorage ARC, PO Box 101 987. Anchorage,AK 99510 1987 [email protected] et. $3 ad-mission,

    COMMUNICATIONS

    move fro m Class C to Class 8. an amateurwould pass a more ad vanced written exam anda 11 word pe r minute Morse code examinatio n.

    Th e final license grade wo uld be C lass A andit wo uld convey the full privileges of the presen tAmateu r Extra Class. To upgra de from Class 13to C lass A. a ham would be requ ired to pass themo st difficult wr itten exam of the license ele-ments. But the Mors e code requi rement wouldhe ca pped at 12 word s per minute. co ns istentwith the practice ob served in man y othe r COUll tries aro und the wor ld.

    Fol lowing the meeting. ARRI, President RodSta fford, W6RO D. sa id. "The deba te was attimes co ntentious and the result was nut unnni-mous. Some Board memb ers pre ferred greatersimplification: others were uncom fortable wi thso me of the changes being proposed . Howe ver.eve ry Boa rd mem ber. without exc ep tion. leftthe meetin g kno wing tha t eac h of his or hercolleagues did wha t they bel ieved was in till:best interest for the futu re of am ate ur rad io ,"

    Nine of the 1.5 League Directo rs voted infavor o f the plan. with six op posed. Th e newchanges mu st sti ll be approved by the FederalCommunication s Co mmission .

    Electra going, going, goneDoug Robertson spied this notice in the

    cluss ificds: " In the US District Co urt for the

    Sept 19-20: Albuquerque area, NM1998 Duke City Harnfcst will be held at theNat ional Guard Armory in Rio Ra ncho , in thegreater Albuq uerq ue area . Sa l. Sam- Spm: Sun.Bern- Jpm. Website: ht tp.www.qsl.ner/dchr,ddlj@q.'lf,ner. Contact: Richie Allen KC5 NZRSOS-242-020S E-Mail: [email protected]

    Sept 20: Lenawec, I\UAdri an ARC 01" Ad rian. 26th Annual Hamfestand Co mputer S how at the Lenawee Co untyFairgrounds. VE Te sting. hou rly pri zes. Ca mp-ing availabl e. Star ts at 8 a.m . Contact Br ian .KGSCO at kg8co@f" i.net or visit the AA RCwe b page at: www.tnl.net/ -wstqe

    Sept 20: HlI. lel. NJGar den State Hamfest at Vete ran' s Park (GSPex it 117, Rt 36 eas t. right onto M idd le Rd. righto n to G ree nac rc Rd.). T a lk-i n 145 .4 85(-6), 224.96 (-1.6). $5 admission, Sam. VEtes ting. prizes. Ja ck Petro KB2GJU 732-68 1-5994 : wwww .munmout h.cemz.-gsura o rgS(/f1 @moll1noulh.com

    Southe rn Distr ict of Geo rgia. Sa vanna h Divi-s ion... Notice of Marshal ' s Sale of Tu g Electra.Vessel Parti culars: Offshore Radio BroudcustStation Tug ' Electra' ... The T ug 'Electra ' is [a]tow boat fined wi th a co mplete radio broa dcaststation, includ ing radio tower ... Will he so ld' As Is. Where Is ' . . at public auction o n the 15thda y of July 1998 ... to the hig hes t bidder ..."

    The Electra v...as out fi tted as a radi o ship byAlan We iner for Sco tt Bed el' of LightwaveMission Broa dcasting . Acc ording to the on linePirate Pages it left Boston in Murch head ed forthe Caribbean but was force d to stop in Savan-nah for repai rs. Information from the NumeroUno DX g roup says the repairs were neccssi-tatcd by a collision with another vessel. andbetween repairs and lavvsuits. the preacher fund-ing the project ran out o f money. We ine r andBecker had alread y moved o n to other proj ect s,when yet another broadcastin g ship wen t dow nto history .

    Sept 20: Newtown, CTWestern CT Humfest. Candlewood ARN KenWeith-KD IDD. Box 344 1, Danbury, CT06813-3441 (203) 743-9 181. Talk-in 147.121,72. Set-up 7a .m. public sa.m-zp.m. Ad mis-sion $4. tables S JO. tailgating $6.

    Sept 26: T renton, NJ. areaFall Fest 98 at the Tall Cedars of Lebanonpicnic grove. Sa wmill Rd. Ham ilton Tw p. NJ.Talk-in 146.67(-) 8a.m. ad mission 55. Morei nfo c a ll 609 88 2 2240 o r www.s lac.eomlw2zq

    Sept 27: Spr lngfleld , OHThe Independent Radio Assoc is ho lding the16th annual harnfe st and co mputer sho w at theClark Co unty Fairground s. 1-70 to Ex it 59 .north 1/4 mil e on SR 4 1. Talk-i n 145.45(.). 8a.m.-3p.m. $5 admiss ion, All indoor s.

    6 MONITORING TIMES September 1998

  • COMMUNICATIONS

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    T he American Automobile Assoc iation haspetitioned the FCC 10 at least retain control overthe group of 43 channels it has bee n using foro ver 40 years . " We do a read-service ca ll everyti ve seco nds:' said Gary Ruark, AAA ' s fre-quency coordinator . "We don 't have the capac -ity to share with anyone else."

    According 10 the \Vtu hillgtnll Post story, theFCC isn't anx ious to open Pand ora ' s box, s incetaxis, truc kers and o thers have also asked forreconsid eration.

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  • By Ronald A. Perron

    Y )U could say tha t I go t into shortwavelistening through the side doo r.For a while now I' ve been intoVHF scanning -c- or pcrha ps I shoul d S;'IY l' vebeen HO OK ED into VHF scanning. I boughta Rad io Shack PRO-2().J5 and used the tele -scoping antenna that came wi th it. I had somu ch fun wit h this scanner and I wanted tofind out mo re about the ho bby. So I sub-sc ribed lO Monitoring Times and started surf-ing somcot'thc scanner groups on the Inte rNe t.

    The author's "cozyvIistening post ofaPRO-2IJ.15, A TS 909 and "the eva -present WRTII ."

    With my inte res t now piqued . I convince d111)' wife that a llhough m)' eq uipment wa s onlya few months old it W;'IS t ime to upgrade. IboughI a Diamond Disconc antenna and pu tthat up in 111)' attic . Thai has rea lly ex pande dmy VHFIUHF world.

    While learning mo re about scan ne rs. etc.. Jstarted reading some of the articl es on short-W:I\'C listening and rea lized that there is a lotor ac tivity out there in the Hf- spectrum. I wasund er the impress ion that th is activi ty hadd ried lip wi th the advent of new technologi es.satel lites. etc . I wa s wrong.

    I wo ndered what wa s o ut the re in the SWworld? Would it be as inte resting.as the VHFwo rld? I sta rted look ing into some of theequipme nt.

    The cautious approachI figu red I' d start OUI economically j ust in

    ca se it wasn't as interesting for me as thescanne r world, I bough t a Sangcun ATS 909and used the wire ro llou t ant en na they pro-vide d. Boy. was I surprised ! Th at little an -tenna pro vided some ve ry good recept ion .

    One ofthe firs t statio ns I fou nd right out ofthe package was the US Coast G uard 's Co m-munication s Master Sta t ion A t la nt ic(CA MSl. ANT) Chesapeake on 5.696 MH z.He wa s boomi ng in. As luck wo uld have it Icaugh t him in the middle ofa rescue operationinvolv ing an HC- U O. an HH-60 helicopter.und acuttcr. So me pretty exci ting stuff right inthe mid dle of one of our winter Nor'castcrshere on the East Coast.

    Needless to say. afte r a few da ys ofsearch-ing around the bands I was hooked for good.I used that little wi re a ntenna fur a couple o fmonths. stringi ng it out every time I wa nted tolisten and ree ling it buck in when I was done.Leaving the wire pe rmanently strung out ove rthe boo kcase and curtain rod s in my " radi oroo m: ' wh ich is als o the family co mputerroom. w;:ISI1 ' t

  • most imp ortant aspect of any radio system.Stringi ng a large dipole outside wasn 't an

    optio n, So I did a little research, talked wi thso me of the tech nical folks at G rove anddec ided to go with a Sky wi re, which I st rungin my attic , Th e wire was longer than my atticspace so I had to im provise a co nfig uration.No t being a technical type, I fig ured that apara llelo gram, ro ugh ly box sha ped, wouldgive me the best overa ll recepti on coverag e. Itmay or ma y not be (he opt imu m shape, but itsure has ex pande d the world of shortwave forme.

    Looking from above the ante nna loo ks likethe ske tch below, It 'sorie nted rough ly east towes t. The long port ion is about 34 n. Iong. thcend port ions abo ut 9 ft. lon g and the shortsides ab out 10 It. eac h, It ' s located abo ut 25 1'1.above the ground on a horizonta l plane.

    Using thi s ante nna, I' ve logged the US Air

    Line drawing of author 's antennaconfi guration Force Global HF System (G HFS) sta tions at

    Hickam (Hawaii)and Elme ndo rf (A las ka), aswe ll as Thule (G reenland) , Asce nsion Island,Croughton (England). and lncirli k (T urkey) .

    I' ve a lso log ged civiliun a ir tra ffic control-

    ler s in Egypt, Sudan. Libya and Kenya. Soutb-wa rd my range extends dow n to Brazil. Ven-ezue la . Co lombia, and Mexico and the Ca rib-bea n. So reception is pretty good from mylocat ion in eas tern Maryland .

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    September 1998 MONITORING TIMES 9

  • Band Burners

    Search and rescu e operations by the Canadian COQ.l;t Guard always pro videdram atic listening,

    Here are some of my favorite HF utility frequencies . I've included only the ones thata re usually fairly activeand provide interesting listening:

    100 ft. of outside wire and .... I guess the listnever ends!

    Iden~fica~onCanad ian Fa rces (Search & RescuelDEA Caribbean/Gulf ofMexico/Atlantic (night primary) - AlphaUS Coast Guard CAMSlANTAir ta Ground / Search & Rescue OpsCanadian Farces (Search & RescuelUS Coast Guard stotions (vessels an 6.2001Canodian Farces - Ha lifax Mil itaryUS Navy - Emergency Action MessagesUS Air Force {Airtoair refueling, common]US Coast Gua rd stctions (vessels an 8.2401US Air Force GHFS {Various}US Coast Guard CAMSlANTAir ta Ground / Search & Rescue OpsUS Air Farce GHFS (Various)US NavySafetyaf Flight / Drug Interdiction Voice Coardination NetUS Air Farce Cape Radio-CopeCanaveralUS Air Force GHFS Primary (Various)NORADConadion Forces-Trenton Military AWACS (Charlie 61Canadian Forces-Trenton MilitaryCanadian Forces-Trenton MilitaryDEA Caribbean / Gulf of Mexico / Atlantic (day primary) - Papa

    Ifyou're interested in military aircraft there are the Mystic Star "F" and the Stratcom"Z" series frequencies. They're too numerous to list here but you can find them at severa lplaces on the Web. I found a good list for these and other militaryHF frequencies on theWorldwide Utility News (WUN) website at http: //www.gem.net/~berri/wun/newsletter/v4/n05/mla.hhnl

    Ia lsa found a good reference listing of HF utilityfrequencies at BobColycrd's websiteat http://www.cybercomm.net/~slapshot/utelist.hhnl

    For broadcast listening I recommend the old standbys World Radio & TV Handbookand Passport to World Bonk Radio yearly editions. Good listening!

    Freq (MHz)4.7 395.2775.6965.7 176.5016.6946.6976.7618.7648.9688.9838.9928.97 110.78011.17511.21411.23213.25714.686

    going to bu y is a Drake SW8 or maybe anAR7030and. of co urse , a Minituner Plus. andBoring? Routine? Never!

    My main shortwave listen ing inte res t co n-tinues to be military communications, andI'm continually surprised at the variety ofintere sting loggings out there. Duri ng lastwin ter's buildup offorccs in the Persian Gulfto co unter old Sad dam. the GHFS was buzz-ing with loads of traffic. There were loggingsap len ty of Reach tran sport s and refu el ingtankers ferry ing aircraft and personne l backand forth.

    For me it' s a thrill to tune in on ourAirborne Co mmand Posts (Nightwatch) andUS Air Force AWACS (Dragnet and DarkStar) aircraft as they pcrfonn their a irbo rnepatrols and air defense exerci ses. In severalinstances I' ve been able to catch them coor -dinating their activities on HF and then fol-low them thro ugh the exercise on VHF/U HF.The ocean area s off the Midd le Atlantic coastare a major training location for Air Force andNavy.

    The US Coast Guard co ntinues to provideso me interesting listening, includ ing someexci ting search and rescues. The tricky wa-ters off New Eng land and Cape Hatteras keepthe Coast G uard hopping.

    For a change of pace, there ' s the DrugEnforcement Agency guys working with theNavy and Coast G uard to keep watc h overtheCaribbean . Th ey are usually good for one ortwo exci ting boa t chases every mon th or so .

    Maybc it' s my locati on here in the nort h-east, but I get fairly good reception on Cana-dian Forc es and Coast G uard acti vities fromT renton, Ontario , and Hali fax. Nova Scotia .Every now and then I can also pick up com-mercial fish ing vesse ls working the George' sBan ks and New Eng land fis hing ground s.T hey ' re a little differen t than yo ur usual util -ity link and sometimes the con versations canget prett y "salty! "

    I started ou t in the SWL worl d interestedmainl y in the utili ty world. But of late I' mdeveloping an interest in the broadcast world .Reading Gayle Van Horn ' s articles in Moni-toring Times has piqued my interest. So I' vebeen trying to sec wha t sort of range I havewit h my equipment in this area. So far I' mimpressed with the varie ty of listeni ng that ' sout there . It ' s ope ned up a who lc new area ofsho rtwave listen ing for me.

    I real ize tha t compared to some of youreaders I'm a roo kie at this hobby - but Ithink I'm catching up fast. The dreaded "U"word upgrade is creeping into my vocabularyagai n. I'm lon gin gly eyeing the mor e sophis-tica ted SW rece ivers in the catalogs. Boy , ifI ever hit the lottery one of the first things I' m

    10 MON ITORING TIMES September 1998

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    Sepfember /998 MONITORING TIMES 11

  • Zambia 'sChristian

    VoiceBy Colin Miller

    The Radio Christian Voice broadcast building ill Zambia.

    f c last time Monitoring Times looked atthe Africancountry ofZambia was Marchof 1990. in which we focussed on itshistor y and the development of broa dcas tingthere. Since then. a number of changes havetaken place . amon g them the setting up of theco untry 's first independent radio station. RadioChristian Voice. Three peo ple in part icu lar.directly or indirectly. had an inlluencc on thees tab lishment of the station: Dr. Livin gstone.President Chiluha. and Bob Edminston.

    The seed is plantedO f Zambia's popula tion of over 9 million .

    between 50 - 75 g arc Chri stian s. The Scott ishmi ss ionary . doctor, and ex p lo re r DavidLivingstone ( IX13-1X73Ijourneyedex tensivclyin Central and South Africa. He bel ieved inending the slave trade and establ ishing Chris-

    tianit y andlegi tima te commerce in its place . Inhis travels he discovered the mighty VictoriaFalls. Zambezi River. and Lake Nyasa (nowLake Malawi ).Th e Victoria Falls is regarded asone of the seven won de rs of the world.

    In '1866 Livi ngston e set out to discover thesource of the Nile. He trave led along the RovumaRiver towa rd Lake Tanganyika, During. thisex pedition at Uj ij i he W'IS met by Henry MortonSta nley . ajouruulist wi th thc N('w York Herald.w ho as ke d th e fa mous q ue s ti o n : " Dr.Livin gsto ne. I presume?" They became goodfrien ds and explored parts of E.lsl Africa to-ge ther. Livingstone is co nsidered to he one ofthe most important explorers of Africa : a Zum-bian town ncar the Victo ria Falls is named afte rhim.

    Throu gh exploration Livingston e changedWestern attitudes about Africa . People becam emo re invol ved in the tight to abolish slave ryand saw the value in African land. The firstEuropean settlers arr ived and the country wasadmi nistered by the British South Africa Com-pany. Th e slave trade was finall y suppresse d in1903.

    Then called Nort her n Rhode sia . the countryremained under British rule until it received itsindependence in 1961- , changing its narnc toZa mb ia. For more tha n 27 yea rs. the co untrywas ruled by Kenneth Kau nda . His Christ ianor iented. socialist humanism became govern -ment ph ilosophy. T his was a pe riod of soc ia lc risis, graphicall y portrayed by povert y andeconomic stagnation us a resu lt of alm ost threede cades of politically- insp ired decli ne . In Oc-tober 1991 , the Movem ent for Multi party De-mocracy (MMD) defeated the United Nationa lIndep end ence Party (UN IP) with a major ity of

    4: I in the nation' s first dem ocratic election.Frederick Chiluba, 54, was elected the newPresid e-nt.

    Since Chilubu ca me to power the nat ion' seconomy has progressed. inflation has dec reasedand exc hange co ntro ls ha ve been relax ed .Privatization has uccc lenuc d and changes havebee n introduce-d in legislation rela ted to min-ing. indirect taxa tion and land.

    A "bcrn-ag ain'tChrisnau. PresidcntChilubabelongs to the mainline and often co nservativeUn ited Ch urch nf Zambia. whe re he is an cide rand very act ive in religiousobse rvances. EveryCa binet meeting starts with .1 word of prayer.To nearly everyon e ' s surprise. in 1992 Chil ubadeclared Zam bia a Chri... tian nation under theleudcrchip of Jesus Christ .

    Ripe for a Christian VoiceBob Edminston . a success ful British busi-

    ncssman who used his success to found Chris-tian Vision . an international ch ari ty board. rec-ogni zed a potenti al for partnership when hehea rd of Chilubas Christian stance. Christ ianVision UK tu...ked Ch rist ian Vision 'i...ambiawith the following projects: a radio station.mixed farm. and a Bib le Co llege . ChristianVoice was launched as the first private stationin Zambia on December I. 1994. by PresidentCh iluba .

    T he station i... located on an 8.000-acrc farm.35 kill (22 miles] southwes t of Lusaka. thecapital ci ty ofZan tbia. off Kufue Road. the roadlinki ng Lusaka to Livingstone. Th e buildi ngshouse the trunxmittcr. ge nerator, studio. pro-duct ion. techn ical services. canteen, adm inis-tration and mult i-track recordi ng stud io. Thefarm is full of mango and jacaranda trees. and

    12 MONITORING TIMES Sep/embe, 1998

  • Ac ting station manager Charles Maboshe shows a reporter the SOW transmitter.

    lines at the top 01" the hou r. and news bull eti nsat 111111. 16110. and 2000 UTC (I :011 p.m.. 6:00p.m.. and 10:00 p.m. local time) .

    There an: severa l hours of live broadcastingduring eac h broadcast day. From 0400 to 0700UTC (6:00 u.rn. to 9:00 a.l11 . local) there is theMorning Sholl'. a un ique \vay to start the day.w ith news. health. Sc ripture read ings.a thou ghtfor the day. and of co urse music. From 0900 to11311 UTC ( 11:(X lto 2:00 p.nl.)Gibbs Mwcembapresent s Focus . Panj i Chipctu ho sts AfternoonMaMa~ille bet ween 1230 and 1430 UTC (2:30and 4:30 p. rn.) . guid ing listeners through ava ried program . incl ud ing news reports. Chris-tian World news. recipes and enterta ining facts.

    As the day hegins to co me to an end. CeIeb rute incl ude s the G o od Ne w s . theNot iceboard. and the A-Z of C hristian music.making the evening sta rt in a wo nderfully up -lift ing way. AI 2000 UTC ( 10 :00 p.m.) in LateNight Extra Dennis Sham boko helps listenersre fl ect o n the Wo rd of God - the perfec t wayto end a bu sy J ay.

    construction is nearing co mp letion. From thesite , one looks d O W Il over the farm to the KafucRiver. which flows into the Zam bcz i River andinto the vast. ma n-made Lake Kar iha .

    T he sh ortwave transmitter is a 100 kilowat tCo ntinenta l 4 18E with a Tel 6 15-2 high ga inomnidirect ional an tenna .

    T he shortwa ve broadcasts cover So uthe rnand Central Africa from Kampal a (Uga nda) toCape Town (So uth Africa) and from Mada ga s-car to Angola - a potent ia l listening aud ienceof over 100 mill io n people.

    Accordi ng to the C hrist ian Voice web site(http://www.ch r ts tt an- vtst on .or u/ j. las twinter' s schedule was as follo ws:

    0400-1600 UTe on 6065kHz1600-2200 UTe on 3330kHz

    Rea ders may be interested to know C hristianVisio n has also j ust launched Voz Cristiuna thi syear fro m the fo rmer Voice of Chile facil ities.

    Radio Christian Voice is proud oJ its 16multi-track recording studio.

    Local service as wellT he FM service for Lusaka was lau nched hy

    Vice- Pres iden t Br igad ier Gen eral GodfreyMiyanda Oil Augus t 14. 1996. The FM trans-missio n is o n the air 24 hou rs a day on 106.2M Hz stereo. Th e tran smi tter is loca ted on theroof of the y-stur Pumodzi Hotel. and cov ers urad ius of 120 km.

    As of Janu ary I , 1996. the station laun cheda 16 track recording con sole with Q-base facili-ties at its stud ios . Th e staff are pro ud to say thatthis faci lity is the fi rst of its kin d in Zambia. andit has so far recorded over 15 alb ums .

    Accord ing to The Post. Za mbia' s leadin ginde pendent newspaper . Radi o C hristian Voicebecame the first radio station in Za mbia to payroya lties to the writ ers o f music played 0 11 thei rsta tion when the)' prese nted the Za mb ian Cop y-rights Socie ty (Z AMCO PS) with a subs tantia lchec k in 1996. Zambia National BroadcastingCorpor atio n (ZNBC ) so far had not recogn izedthe art ists whos e music they played o n rad io

    and te levis ion by wa y of paying roy-uhics.

    Prog ramm ingProgr amm ing incl udes Gospel

    music. Bible teaching. ge nera l inte r-est pro gram s such as tra ve l. healthand ag ricult ure. Nine ty percen t ofthe programs o n Christian Voice arcprod uced locall y. altho ugh they dobroadcast some prog rams prod ucedby Christian ministri es abroad. Th eprog ram s ra nge fro m C hr isti anteach ing to ed ucation. agr icultu re.health and children' s interests. Inadd ition. the s tation run s ne ws head-

    MoJya Phiri sits at the Studio Oneconsole.

    Because Christia n Voice is a charity. it hasa small staff. They all ge t excited when theyrece ive lette rs fro m listeners and DXe rs fromoverseas. T here has bee n a trem endous re-spo nse from listeners. some of them from Eu-ro pe and as far as Austra lia and New Zealand.At times. they arc overw hel med by the amountof responses req uired. and apo logi ze for anydelays in repl y ing to letters.

    Testimonies of all kinds keep on po uti ng inand Christian Voice is very thankful for thi sove rwhelming response . Add ress:

    Radi o Chris t ian VoicePri vate Bag E606. Lusaka . Za mbiaTel: + 260 1 27425 1 & Fax: + 260 32 30282

    T he best time to hear the statio n in No rthAmerica is duri ng our local evening. beforesign-off at 2200 and from sign-on at 04 00 UTC,o n 6065 kHz. Yo u will have to usc sidebandmo de . as the frequ ency is dom ina ted by theCa nad ian time station C HV . But give it a try .espe cially on the East C oast. Further west itmay he more of a challe nge . Go od luck !

    14 MONITORING TIMES September 1998

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    September 1998 MONITORING TIMES 15

  • Chi clio Intern

    Story and photos by Valter Aguiar

    The worlds la rge st popu lat ion(1.200 ,000.000 inhabitants) Thothird largest co untry area size (j ustafter Russia and Ca nadm - The largest humanconstruction in the wor ld and the onl y one thatcan he seen from the Moon (the Great \Vall) The largest hydroel ect ric dam project in theworld uh e Three Gorges Dam ) The largestcit y in Asia and the fourth in the wo rld (Sha ng-hai. in the south. wi th IJ m ill ion inhabitan ts ),Beijing. the capital. is only slightly sma lle r(jllll I I m illio n inhabitants ), wi th its la rgea ve nue s and tho usa nds of hicycles .

    In Chiou. e verything is big. W ith 1 . ~ bi l-lion people (0 feed . the country is the world'slendi ng prod uce r -orrice. wheat. soy and suga r.Th e Chinese prese nce in manufac tur ing andex port CUll he no ticed in e ve ry corne r of thewor ld, Suc h a large and import ant count rycould be ex pected to have a correspo nding

    opresencc on shortwa ve. and accord ingly wehave China Radio Internntional - ju st likethe country . the third biggcsi internati on albroadcas ter in the world .

    Early historyChi nese radi o is fully owned by the Com-

    mu nisl gove rnme nt . as a n important mea ns tomaint ain the co untry ' s unit y. T he first broad-cas ling stat ion ill China was ina ugurated inDecem ber 30. 1940: XNC R. Nev.' China Ra-dio . wa s the firsl name of the c urrent Ce ntra lPeop le ' s Broadcasti ng Station (CP BS ).

    In Dece mb er 3. 19~ 1. Northe rn ShaanxiNew China Broa dcastin g Station made itsfirst appearance 011 shortwav e for interna -tiona l aud ienc es , It wa s the time of the PacificWar bet ween China and Jap an . j ust afte r theJapanese invasion ofManch uri a and progress-

    ing into o the r region s o f Ch ina . Fir st broad-casts of the ne w stat io n we re ther efore obvi-ou sly in Jap an ese . as a pan of the war e ffort.

    Engl ish broadcast s o nly started in Scprc rn-her I I. 194 7. with the fir st Engli sh announcer

    The auth or presents a listener's leiterprogram ill Portuguese, withPortugu ese department vice-directorAls. Wei Lin,

    16 MONITORING TIMES Sep tember ' 998

  • SWUScanning Radio Surveillance - News Rooms

    Sometimes eve n the post o ffice mixed upletter de live ry between the stations.

    To avoid confus ion. the overseas ser vicecha nged its name to Chinn Radio Interne -tionul (CRI) on Ja nuary I. 1993. In rea lity. itwas ju st a translation of the officia l nam ealread y used by the Ch inese department since1975. T his is now the station's officialname.all ho ugh some o ld-lime listeners (like theauthor) still like to ca ll it Radio Beijing as inold times.

    B UI the changes did not stop. Until rc-ccmly . China Radio International occ upiedthe bu ilding of the Min istry of Radio , Filmand Television. built in 1958. In the sameaddress. local C PBS and CCTV (China Cen-tra l Tel evisio n) also had their offices andstud ios . Ch ina Rad io Intern ational wasn't theonly that had grown over the years. CCT V,which in 1992 inaugu ra ted its internationalchannel (CCTV-4 ). was now available to TVviewe rs wor ldw ide by satellite , with Chi neseand Engli sh language program s.

    Th e o ld bui ld ing had therefore become toosma ll for all of them. Also. it presen ted tech-nica l obstacles which were difficu lt to correct.To meet these prob lems. CCTV mo ved to abrand -new building do wntown Beij ing. whilenew faci lities for China Radi o Internationalwere co nstructed in the Western d istr ict ofLugu.

    The Ilew CRJ newsroom.~~-..I

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    time. It is indeed a deep emotion 10 walkdowntown Beijing . hearin g the chimes of theclock at the Beij ing Telecom building j ust afew quarters away from Tiananmcn Squ are- the same ones used as the station ' s intervalsignal! In Beijing you wi ll al so be able to hearthe Capita l Service - foreign language pro -grams prod uced for local sta tion s in China.This service. started in IlJ84 only in Beiji ng,is now broadcast by thirtee n local statio ns inten foreign languages.

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    Whi le other shortwave broadcasters werereducing their on-air time and languages. the1990s have bee n very special yea rs for Rad ioBeij ing. In Ma y 1990, the Eng lish departmentstarted to pub lish The Messenger ,a bimonth lyguide to broadcasts in Engl ish and other Ian-guages .

    At that time. the na me Radio Beiji ng wascausing a bit of confu sion among local radiolisteners in China. Th is is because the localradio in the ca pital is also called Radio Beijing.

    CRI's mode", llew home took tellyears to build.

    The old gray building that first housedCRI.

    Ms. Wei Lin presenting daily 20-minulc pro-grams from the cave studio in Hcbei province.Two years later . when Mao Tse-Tung fou ndcdthe Peop le ' s Republic of China. the stationwas 1ll00'cJ to the new capital. Peking. andthen renamed Radio Peking (w hich becameRadio Beij ing in the 1980s ).

    Radi o Beij ing has never stopped its devel-opment towards becoming one of the world'slarge st intern ational broad casters. In !()SO.standa rd Chinese and other Asian language swere added to its tran smissions. Furt her lan-guage s have subseq uently been added , andnow they arc 43. inc luding four local C hinesedialects and also Esperanto. Dr. Zamc nhoffwould surely be proud 10 heardaily Esperantobroadcasts from C hina. which started in IlJ64and arc now avai lable to listeners in As ia.Europe and Lat in America.

    Radio Beiji ng beca me well known to short-wave listeners for three main reasons. First .the Chinese go vernm ent propaga nda, es pe-cially in its early day s. Second, the culturalprog ram s which gradually replaced propa-ganda as time passed. Thi s inclu des typicalChinese music. programs 011 Chinese histo ryand tales. cooking shows and even Chineselangu age lesso ns. if yo u an: patien t enough tolearn what is probably the 1ll 0 !\1 diffi cult lan-guage in the world.

    T he third reason is the beautifu l souveni rpacka ge offered by the station: nice QSLca rds, beautiful penna nts. stickers, bags andthe like. Chinese pupcrcuts arc es pecially ap-preciated by the listeners and make themmarvel at ho w these wonde rful so uvenirs (a200ycarcraft trad ition in China) can be mad e.(If you haven' t go tten your so uvenirs. don ' tlose mor e time : the station addre ss is at thebot tom of this arti cle . )

    If yo u are espec ially lucky, yo u can evenwin a free trip to China in one of the var iouscontests sponsored by the station from time to

    September 1998 MONITORING TIMES 17

  • The English department replies to letters (and e-mail) - a high priority at CRI

    To North America0300-0400 on 9690 kHz04 00-0500 on 9560 and 9730 kHz0500-0600 on 9560 kHz1400-1600 on 7405 kHz

    To Europe2000- 2200 on 6950 a nd 9920 kHz2200-2230 on 3985 kHz2200-2300 on 7170 kHz

    To South EastAsia1200-1400 on 1341 , 971 5 a nd 11660 kHz

    To SouthAsia1400-1500 an 953 5 and 11825 kHz1500-1600 on 7 160 and 9785 kHz

    The inauguration of the new building in1996also marked the firstusc ofd igi tal equip-ment for CRI. Computers arc now used towrite news and programs. translate them intoeach language. tape and edit each program.and send themto the tran sm itter sites inChinaand overseas. The new building has fiftystudios andfacilities to broadcast 17 differentprograms simultaneously.ChinaRadio inter-national is finally a modem broadcaster, afterall the investment in worldwide shortwaveradio madeby the country'sgovernment overa "decade of decadence: '

    Not thatCRI is opposed to new broadcast-ing technologies : Ag reements forretransmis-sion of CRI programs by local radio stationsare being signed worldwide. thus makingthem audible to a vastly larger number orlisteners. A Web site was put into operationby year-end 1997. and Real Audio transmis-sions may come soon over the Internet.

    However, CRI knows that shortwavebroadcasts still have a long time to go before(if ever) being completely substituted by theVisitors can view some of the ancientbroadcast equipment!

    18 MONITORING TIMES 5ep/embe, 1998

    new technologies.especially ill the less dc vc l-opedcountries. This includes large port ions ofAsia. where Ch ina Radio International has alarge number of listeners. Many of them havejoined CRI listeners' d ubs~ today. accord-ing to the station,over 2,000 wo rldw ide. espe-cially in Asian countries like Pakistan.

    CRI is proud to display souvenirs fromits listeners all over tire world.

    And the station is really proud of its listen-ers ! More than 600.000 leiters arc receivedyearly. All of them are duly answe red andcomments arc sent to the programs' produc-ers. Now they have e-mail as well. and mes-sages to all language departments can be sentto the same address at the end of this arti cle.Nearly every publication issued by CR! in-cludes comments received by listeners.

    In the new building. there arc three corri-dors where cabinets display a few souvenirsreceived from worldwide lis ten er s. There isone case foreach language department, COIll -prising a worldwide exhibition of souvenirsfrom all countries.

    To South Pacific0900-1100 on 97 85 and 11755 kHz1200-1 300 a n 6950 kHz1200-1400 an 7385 kHz

    To Africa1600-1700 on 956 5 and 9620 kHz1700-1800 on 7 150, 7405 and 9750 kHz1900-2000 on 6955 and 944 0 kHz2000-2100 a n 7 160, 7 170 , 7 175 and9440 kHz2100-2130 a n 7 170, 7 180 and 953 5 kHz

    CHINA RADIO INTERNATIONALBROADCAST SCHEDULE IN

    ESPERANTOtALL TIMES UTq

    To East Asia:1100- 1127 on 7170 , 95 35 and 11575 kHz

    To South East Asia'1300-1327 on 11600 and 11840 kHz

    To Europe:2000-202 7 a n 4960 , 7405, 9900 a nd9965 kHz

    To Europe and latin America:2230-2257 on 695 0 and 9860 kHz

    China Radio International Addresses:

    China Radio InternationalBeijing 100039People's Repub lic of China

    E-mail [email protected] l W eb site hltp: / /www.cn.cngb.com

  • Recording ill a CRI studio.

    Constantly growingC hi na Rad io Internat io nal pro-

    gram s total 190 hours dai ly and arcbroad cas t worldwide by 26 trans mit-ter centers throughout the country.CR I also has ,I rela y of its own in Ma li,and holds ag reements for progra m re-transmissions with Rad io Fran ce In-ternat ional (us ing tran smitters inFrance and French Gu yana), Voice ofRussia. Spanish Foreign Radi o. RadioCanada Internation al and Rad iobras(Brazil) . T his is why CRI signa ls canbe heard at good condi tion s nearlywo rldwide.even in unfavorable propa-ga tion cond itions.

    Its 40 local offi ces in Ch ina and 23 interna-tiona l correspondents supply C RI with localand international news. Over the pas t fewyears. China Radi o Internatio nal' s foreigncorrespondent tea m has also become a sourceof internat ion al news for the Chinese med iaitself. The station proudly sta tes that theircorres pondents send faster and more acc uratereports than the offi cial Chinese new s agencyXin hua.

    Figu res arc real ly impressive. as in every-

    thing China undertakes. However , the mainreaso n for Ck fs pop ular ity is its people. Mos tof its announcers arc from Mainland Ch inaand have Chinese (or local dialect s) as theirmother tongue. Even so. they arc able toprodu ce good quality programs and read thcmon the air in foreign languages co nsiderablywell, thank s to [hei r academic formation inforei gn languages.

    Besides the langu age ability of its staff.Ch ina Rad io Intern ation al has learned how 10

    dea l with listeners in a unique wayand brin g them closer 10 the station.Thi s is do ne by means of its spec ialattention pa id to listeners, both byma il and on the air.

    It is true that poli tica l propagandaca n be found in all govern me nt-ow ned stations throu gh out the world.But China is also a un ique co untry .Its tradition o f mill enniums ha veforme d a country's his tory that per-hap s ca nnot be fou nd in any othe rplace in the world. C hinese peoplenorma lly live in a happy and friend lyenvironment, des pite al l the d ifficul -ties the co untry has faced . They we l-come foreig ner s. j ust like CR I doe s

    with its listen er s.The only way for western people to under-

    stand Ch inese history. heritage. culture andway of living is visiting China. If this is notposs ible. the next possible alternative is, ofcourse.. . China Rad io Intern ational !

    The author wishes to thankMs. Yu Huiiuan, Ms.Wei Lin (somenome of the First Eng/isli announceris iusta coincidence) and the stoff of eRrsPortuguese Depcrtment for their help in thep reparation of this article.

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    September 1998 MONITORING TIMES 19

  • Take aShortwaveDXpedition

    By Hans Johnson

    With summer ou t o f the way. the shortwave DX ing seas on(the season of listening for di sta nt radio stations ) can nowbegin . What better way to kick things off tha n wi th aDxpcdltion?'

    A D'Xpcdition is a listen ing session aw ay from ho me that ca n lastan ywhere fro m a few hours to weeks . No ma tte r whe re you live .chances arc that you do n ' I have a lot o f roo m for outdoor antenn as. A ndJ' II bet thaI most o f you arc suffering from noise prohlem s of one so nor anothe r. Most Dxpcdi nons are driven by the fact that listen ers wan tto improve their rece ption.

    Wh ile you can' , change the limitations at hom e. you ca n leave hom e- and tak e your rad io with you. DXp editi ons ha ve these characteris-tics : A ch ange in listening location . more space for antenn as. lessno ise , listening with ot he rs. and lon g OXin g sessio ns. The more o fthese c leme nts that yo u cun combine on yo ur DXpcd ition . the bet terreception will be .

    C hang ing your location can be us simp le as DXin g from a frien d ' shou se. With a bi t of po king a round, you ca n a lso di sco ve r suitable sitesw ithin a few hours ' drive . Th ese sites mig ht ei ther be a par k cubin. u

    A typical D'Xpedition set-lip. This is fro m the MahalaIrXpedition in Maul, Hawaii,

    20 MONITORING TIMES 5eplembe, 1998

    IJXpeditiollS bring hobbyists together. Here is the crew atGifford Pinchot State Park (Front l-r) Rich U 'Angelo.LlansI ohnson, Dave Valko, Fred Kohlbrenner; (Rear l-r] KrisField, TOllY Orr tcourtsy of Fred Kohlbrenner)

    hom e for rent in a resort area . or a tent in the wilderness. If po ssible,choose a site near the seacoas t for the enha nced reception suc h sitesoffe r.

    T he bottom line is that by mere ly cha nging your location you arcgetting a d ifferent look at the band s and prov iding yourse lf with theopportu nity to hear some new things.

    Calling ah ead to the loca tion to ask a few qu esti on s wi ll allow youto ma ke a rough guess as to how suitahle the site wi ll be: What is theter ra in like (c lear. or full o f thick bru sh )? Arc you a llo wed to stringantennas there? In what directiorus) is the re room for anten nas? Ispower av ai lable , and if so, how (ove rhead or underground ut ilitie s )? Ifthe sill' passes the " phone lest," (i.c .. there arc none! ) then give it a try .

    I DXpeditious antenna sRigging antennas on a DXpedition takes a bit of coo rdin ation

    amon g the partici pants. It is best to work as a tea m and string a se t ofantennas that can be sha red. Don' t rig antennas too cl ose together ;they 'll end llP inte rfering vvith one anot her.

    T wo or three rece ive rs can easily use the same ant enna wit h no ille ffec ts through the usc ofshort "j ump er" w ires - a shor t len gth of w irewi th an all iga tor c lip on one end . Using the d ip makes it easy to switchfrom on e antenna to another. Split ter boxes can e ither be bou ght ormad e for antennas that use coax feeds. Bever age ante nnas are aD Xpedition favorite . Favorites are mult i-band dipoles. Bring two andstring o ne nort h-south an d the o the r eas t-wes t.

    DXe rs w ill often commen t on ho w stro ng signa ls arc on their firstDXpedi tion . Wh at is rea lly go ing on is that signa ls seem strongerbeca use yo u've decreased the noi se le ve ls. If your si te has wo rked outokay. then the re will be a lo/less noi se . M ake sure that you work the2 and 3 MH z ran ge , an area that is o ften particuarly noi se-p lagued athome .

    I You are not aloneListening wi th othe rs is proba bly the best pa rt of DX ped ilio ns.

    DXing is oft en a so litary hob by, bUI it doesn' t hav e to he that way. ADXpcdit ion is an o pportunity to OX w ith othe r peo ple who arc a lsosc..trching the spectrum. A bit of quic k coordi na tion will have eve ry-bod y searching a di ffe ren t ha nd. Need less to say, this leads to a 101of

  • Dipo le traps reach f or tile sky at tile Mahalo DXpeditioll.

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    SLt lip .1 DXpcd ition. Rook a SPOI and do it.'{our log boo k wi ll thank you. and yo u willtak e horne tips and tech niques that yo ucan usccycry day.

    Larry )'lI l11rOIl sets up th e sha ck: ..during (l Ruffalo Road[)Xpeditioll.

    No a rt icle 0 11DXpcdit iuu s wo uld becomplete wi thout somewords on ex te nde d lis te n-ing sess io ns. The re isplent y o f'Dxcr lore o f favori te brews that theyusc to kee p themse lves aw ake . The re is ,11-wa ys some thing to hear but ifyou stay awakelong eno ugh. yo u w ill start hearin g th ingseve n whe n there isn't any thing there.Youhave to slee p sometime. so adj ust yo ur sc hed-u le so that you arc awak e during the peaktim es for rad io ac tivity. For North America.you sho uld he up by 0930 UTe.

    Work the statio ns from Latin Am er ica andyour morn ing ope ning to Asia tillmid-morn -ing. Then it is off to bed till curly afternoon.Enjoy the afte rnoon A fricans. lo ng -pathAs ians. and Lat ins in the e veni ng. Stay lipunti l you SL'L' what kind of lute evening open-ings yOll ha ve (if any ) fro m the Midd le Easta nd Africa . Hack 10 hell till 0930.

    So c ull up so me of yo ur DXi ng buddies and

    Time out!

    he is j ust cruis ing th ehand s. ho w docs it do it'!A (o. I or side ban d, how fastdocs he tU IlC and whe redoc s he start? How docshe det ermi ne what a signalof interest is '! Wh at sig-nalsare 100 weak and needto be le ft for another day?Watch. as k. and lea rn.

    j. ' .

    Buffalo Road is anoth er[a mnusD'Xpedition site ill western Pennsylvania

    Le t' s face it: mo st oru s learned to DX in avac uum . W hile we Illay haw pic ked lip so metip s ill print . by and large . we learned largel yon o ur 0\\'11 . w atch the o ther DX~ rs and you\vill lea rn quit e a 101. D l lCS the Dx c r base hislistenin g o ff .1 hit list '! (Sec "World ClassDXin g" in the Mar lJX,\If) Does he rely o fte non reference matcriul x or docs he know mostof the sta tio ns in hi" head" W h.u are thesettings on hi" rece ive r a~ he tune... around" If

    tipoff's going hac k and fort h and the time ca nbe qu ite produc tive if yo u wor k ux a team.

    Equ all y exciting i... how much you canlearn from ot he r DXL'rs an d thei r eq uip me nt.Ver y fe w of us arc lucky enough 10 try out ~lrece iver before we hu y it: here is a chance totry out severa l receivers a nd compare the m Wyour o\'..n. Want to test out that ho t new pieceofpcripheral gear? Here may he your cha nce .The same is true fo r antennas and va rio ustu nin g guides . But the great opportunities liein learn ing fro m yo ur colleagues.

    September ' 998 MONITORING TIMES 21

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  • The main board of the receiver with assembly nearly completed.

    Yo u don ' t need a whole lot of test eq uip-men t beca use Te n-Tee tho ught of that for youin their design . Th e receiver is designed tohave built -in test functions (ha t arc ea si ly usedby even a novice. Agai n, this shows someforet hought in the Ten-Tee design . Th e onl yrequ ired piece of test eq uipment is a di rctcurrent (DC) vo ltage meter. Some hand tool sare needed. hut the main requi rem ent is thatyo u know how to solde r.

    Though the kit is well thou ght out. I don'tthink it is for a beginner . Th ere arc a lot ofparts and a lot o f solde ring . The re are gooddescript ions for each co mpo nent so. if yo uread carefully. a bcg inner coftldassemble thi skit. But if this is your fir st kit. yo u may wantto get some help (preferably psychologicalhelp!).

    Patience is the tool yoult nccd most.Thisproject is split into severaldifferent pha ses fora reason. Don 't try to assemble all the ph asesat one sitti ng. I sugges t tha t yo u try to co m-ple te the fir st phase and then sec how it goe sfro m there.Th ere arc a lot of parts and thc on lyway to kee p from messing up (and spend ingmany. many hours trou bleshooting a non -functionin g circuit) is to assemble one phaseat a time.

    If you take yo ur time. yo u will co me out o fthi s with minimal headaches and agood sho rt-wave rece ive r. Yo u should spread the assem-bly of each pha se out over a few days ifpos sible. I built this kit in about 25 ho ursspread ove r a week or so.

    PHASE ONEPhase one is the assemb ly of the disp lay

    board . Thi s board is the sim-ples t part o f the proj ect and isused as a warm- up for the as -sembler. Also. afte rcomplet ion.the displ ay board is used to te stprogress on all of the followingphases!

    I can' t walk you through eachphase step by step. but I cansha re some ass embly tips foreach phase. Ot her than takingcare not to sca r up the lighte m itt ing di od e (LED ) seg-men tcd d isp lay s with the so l-dering iron, there are not toomany things that cou ld go wrongfor yo u 0 11 phase one.

    I notice d in as sem bli ng thissec tion that the LED disp layscover up the hoard mark ings forsome of the resistors. You co uldwait unti l last to put the displ aysin or rel y instead 0 11 the sup-

    Phase olle is the simplest - andprovides the test platform fo r the rest ojthe stages.

    plied wor kshee t (recommended in all phases )which also hascompo nent placement marked.

    It turns out tha t the resistor markings that

  • By Hans JohnsonWRTH.;. Business as Usual

    serious tweaki ng of the var ious circu its 10have a working shortwave recei ver .

    PHASE SEVENPhase seven is simply the assembly of the

    rece iver ca bine try and ass oc iate d hardware.This also invo lves moun ting the di sp lay boardand the main hoard into the enclos ure. Now iteven looks like a rece iver. This also inc ludesfi na l tweaking and tuning o f the ci rcuitry .

    PERFORMANCE AND FEATURESNo w that we have svvcured throu gh the

    seven-stage assembly. we G.1Il chec k out ournewly co nst ructed shortw ave recei ver. Notethat it took me about 25 ho urs to comple teassembly o n thi s project . I didn 't have anyproblems to tro ubleshoot. due. I fee l. to ve rywel l wri tte n instruct ions and my taki ng thelim e to plan ou t ea ch pha se of co nstruct ionahead of assembly. I could have assembledthis faster but I' m also sure that I wou ld havespent a large chun k of time looking for thcmisp laced co mponent or so lde r bridge :

    Th e rece ive r has a frequ ency co ve ragefro m 100 kHz to 30 MHz with the cho ice ofnor mal or fas t tuni ng. Step size is 2.5 kHz inSSB. 5 kHz Aivl or 100 kHi'. in e ither mode.There is exce llent SSG and CW selec tivitydue to the of kl-lz fi lter bandwidth . which alsogives a fairly good A!\-1 audio res po nse . It hasfine luning of SSB and CW using a c larifierci rcuitry that wo rks rather we ll.

    The recei ver has d irect tuning using a 1'0-tar y encode r. which gives a smooth tuningmo tion. or memory tun ing wit h 15 program-mable memories with a default memory at 15M Hz (WV\'V ). Ofcourse. it has a45 MHz firstIF and a455 kH z sec ond IF wit h a synthesized45-75 MHz local osci llator for min imal dr ift.Th ere is an option to supply a DC vo ltage foran acti ve ant enna . Tha i cou ld be handy. Theaudio outp ut is 1.5 wa us with a built -in spea kerand headphone jack .

    If you like to bu ild kits. or a rc thinkingabout ge tting a low cost shortwave rece iver.yo u should give the Ten-Tee 1254 SSB-CW-AM rece iver kit a try. rtf say that half the funis asse mbling it. It is great fun 10 bu ild and it ' sa dec ent recei ver for the pricc . l think the folksat Ten -Tee gave this design a lot of tho ught .not only for co nstruc ting a cha llenging kit. bUIfor designin g a nice little shortwave recei ver.I am kind o f sad now that it's toget her. Iwo nder if Ten -Tee makes a bigger kit. ..... ?

    Model 1254 is ava ilable from Ten -Tee(ca ll 800 -833-7 373 or write 1185 Dolly Par-ton Park way. Se vierville. T N 378(2) for S 195plus shipping.

    The WorldRadio TV Handbook, perhapsbetter known as the WRTH, is on annualpublication detailingthe world's radio andtelevisionstations. Enthusiasts hove relied uponthe book for over halfa centUry as a referenceguide in their listening or 'watching. So thelistening communitywas quite shaken when itlearned of the resigna tions of the main editorialteem lost fall, particular lywhen rumors of the ,book'sdemise started to circulate. Thankfully, therumor proved to be just that. The WRTH is oliveand welland has a neweditor, David Bobbett.

    Bobbett willbe editing the WRTH fromofficesnear his home in Milton Keynes, England, whichis abo ut 60 miles northof london. Bobbett is alongtime shortwavelistener and he is a lso onamateur radio operator. He is a lsowell-experienced in writing and editing, havingoncebeen editor for Hom Radio Todayand RodioCommunicafio n. He comesto the WRTH fromwork as a telecommunications joumalist.

    One of the Arst things Bobbett did when hewas hired losl April 2 ("Ididn't wont to risksta rting something on April 1sl/' Bobbett says.)was to visit the WRTHs formereditor in chief,AndySennitt. Thevisit to Amsterdam launChedon ongoing cooperativeeffort between theoldlearn and the new. Sen nif will probably be theone to creotethe planned WRTHwebpoge.

    A new company known as WRTH Publica-tionsLtd has purchased the license to to producethe book from BPI. Theformer North Americanpublisher, Watson-Guptill, willcontinue topublish and distribute thebook in the US andCanad a .

    Ifone phrase could describe the upcoming1999 WRTH, it would be"business as usual." Inspite of the close cooperationwith Sennitt,BobbeR has his work cut out for him. Not onlyishenew to the position, he iselse having toprepare the book in half the time whilehiringadditional staffalong the way. Bobbett does -,expect the WRTH to be available at its usual timeof ius!prior to Christmas in North America .

    Readersshould look for ad justments in thebook, rother than wholesale chonges, as Bobbettneeds to get on edition under his belt first. That is

    not to say that large changes will or will not becoming: only thot WRTH fans should not expectthem in 1999 simply because a new editor is inplace.

    Adjustments for 1999 will include a changein the name. The book will now beknownsimplyas WRTH, to be reRected in a new coverdesign incorporating the acronym. Alsolookforsome changes in the features section of the bookand perhaps a slightchange in the page count.

    TheWRTH has had problems in the post withslowdistribution of the book, particula rlyoutsideNorth America, where some areas have wa itedmonths for the book to a rrive in their locale.Bobbetthopes that a newand simplifiedpublishing and distribution arrangement will endthis problem. Everyone will welcome one thingthat won't be changing - the price, which willremain at $2A.95.

    While the book could appear on CD-ROMpost 1999, Bobbett is not convincedthat this isthe way to go. "I don't wont 10 give crwcry thefamily silver," he explains. He is also skeptica lthat such on offering would be profitable. Amore likely scenario is a CD with informotionthat supplements the printed WRTH.

    Another long-term change tha t Bobbetthinted at is a reorganization of the countrylistings. These are listed by continent now, butthey may be listed olphobeficolly in the luture.

    The WRTH has else published a numberofother publicotions over the years. While someofthese, suchas the WRTHSotellile/ TV Hand-book, may reoppear down the rood, don't lookfor them right away. "The WRTH is our firstpriority and remains our core business,"expla ins Bobbett.

    TheWRTH will continue to use monitors andcollaborators in preparing the book. Bobbetthasan open door policy and he welcomessuggestions, constructive comments, andinformation from readers. You can reach him at:P.O Box 7373, Milton Keynes, MK12 SZl,United Kingdom. His email [email protected] .co.ukor fax himat AA1908 321030. "I am open to any suggestionexcept resign," stressesBobbett, laughing.

    September 1998 MONITORING TIMES 7S

  • Richard Barnett5ranMast,[email protected]

    The World Above 30MHz~!--------The Digital Invasion

    Public safety radi o sys tems util izing fu ll-time digit a l vo icetechnology arc gradua lly bec om ing mo re prevalen t aroundthe United States. Up until last yea r. we had see n digit alsyste ms co nstructed in C leve land and Akron. Ohio (Akron wa sper haps the first). the Florida High wa y Pat rol (and othe r stateage nc ies) in the southern and east ce ntral portions ofthe state. andce rtai n troops ofthe New Hampshire S tate Po lice. Th ere ma y havebeen other sys tems. hut


JT September 1998 edition

JT September 1998 edition

Watchdog 88, September 1998

Watchdog 88, September 1998

11 September, 1998

11 September, 1998

Cancham Magazine: September October 1998

Cancham Magazine: September October 1998

Cross Currents, September/October 1998

Cross Currents, September/October 1998

Publication No.: 0012 (SEPTEMBER 1998)

Publication No.: 0012 (SEPTEMBER 1998)

 · 2020. 7. 18. · 06-01-1992 as ASM 30-09-1994 as ASM 02-08-1998 as ASM 12-09-1998 as ASM 14-09-1998 as ASM 16-09-1998 as ASM 18-09-1998 as ASM 26-06-2007 as ASM 01-10-2007 as

 · 2020. 7. 18. · 06-01-1992 as ASM 30-09-1994 as ASM 02-08-1998 as ASM 12-09-1998 as ASM 14-09-1998 as ASM 16-09-1998 as ASM 18-09-1998 as ASM 26-06-2007 as ASM 01-10-2007 as

April 09, 1998

April 09, 1998

September 1998 FINANCIAL AUDIT

September 1998 FINANCIAL AUDIT

The Volunteer, September 1998

The Volunteer, September 1998

September 10, 1998

September 10, 1998

Neuron, Vol. 21, 481–493, September, 1998, Copyright 1998 ...

Neuron, Vol. 21, 481–493, September, 1998, Copyright 1998 ...

September 15, 1998

September 15, 1998

The Guardian, September 23, 1998

The Guardian, September 23, 1998

September 22, 1998

September 22, 1998

1998-09 Taconic Running Life September 1998

1998-09 Taconic Running Life September 1998

September 01, 1998

September 01, 1998

September 24, 1998

September 24, 1998

#061, In Practice, September 1998

#061, In Practice, September 1998

Unofficial Grapevine : 1998 : 09

Unofficial Grapevine : 1998 : 09