From: xberri@quark2.aero.org (Jason E. Berri) Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave Subject: Media Network - 13-FEB-1992 Date: 22 Feb 92 20:26:00 GMT Reply-To: xberri@arecibo.aero.org Organization: The Aerospace Corporation News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41 R A D I O N E D E R L A N D W E R E L D O M R O E P (RADIO NETHERLANDS INTERNATIONAL) presents * M E D I A N E T W O R K * Radio Netherlands' Weekly Communications Review hosted by that international raconteur * J O N A T H A N M A R K S * THURSDAY, 13 February 1992 unofficial transcript from the South Asian Broadcast (1450 UTC on 17580 kHz) Southern & East Africa Broadcast (1850 UTC on 21685 kHz) -=- BEGINNING OF SHOW -=- JM: Ah, we're on the air! Good! Right, our thanks there to the Current Affairs crew, and here's a station identification to remind you who we are. ,-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-, | FROM THE WEST COAST OF EUROPE, RADIO NETHERLANDS RESEARCHES THE FACTS! | '-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-' JM: That's us. And so, to a letter from MIKE BILLINGTON(?) of Canberra, Australia, who says he listens "religiously" to Media Network. I wonder what he means by that? [light ecclesiastical organ music; male announcer parodying an American preacher from the south: Friend, put your hand on the radio. Now, put your other hand on the radio. And now, put your other hand on the radio. And now, that minister of media shortwave, Jonathan Marks!] -=- NEW AFRICAN CORRESPONDENT WANTED -=- JM: Well, seriously, I'm sure no one wants us to preach about SW wireless! Well, come along anyway, to our weekly communications magazine. Let me start with a message directed to listeners in east and southern Africa. It's now 11 months since our faithful media reporter, RICHARD GINBEY, was tragically killed in a car crash just outside Windhoek [Namibia]. Richard provided us with an illustrated portrait of the radio scene in that part of the world, and we've noticed a lot of letters recently pointing out that these portraits are missed. Finding someone in southern or eastern Africa with broadcasting experience, a reasonable tape recording facility, and an active interest listening, is proving to be very difficult, if not impossible, so far, so we thought we'd ask for candidates over the air. If you think you could fit that profile, send us a sample tape, with your voice on it, to: Media Network, RADIO NETHERLANDS, PO Box 222, in Hilversum, Holland, and mark your letter "African Media Reporter". That's Media Network, RADIO NETHERLANDS, PO Box 222, in Hilversum, Holland. Be prepared to contribute on a regular basis, and also to do some radio research. We want more than a long list of stations logged. -=- UPDATES FROM THE DESK OF ANDREW G. SENNITT -=- - RADIO KUWAIT Well, now to this week's media news, and joining us on the line from Amsterdam, from the office of the _World Radio TV Handbook_, is ANDY SENNITT. A return is imminent, I understand, Andy. AS: Yes, it's about RADIO KUWAIT, because according to a report from the Kuwaiti News Agency, via BBC Monitoring, RADIO KUWAIT will resume broadcasting on SW as from next Monday, the 17th of February. One 500 kW transmitter will be on the air from 0400 to 1305 UTC on 6055 kHz, 6-0-5-5, beamed to the Gulf, and from 1315 to 2545 UTC on 11990 kHz, 11-9-90, beamed to the eastern Mediterranean. These will be relays of the domestic service, in Arabic. JM: RADIO KUWAIT's SW transmitter site was the target for some precision bombing by the Americans during last year's Gulf war. Having fallen into Iraqi hands a few days after the invasion in August, 1990, the transmitters at Kabd were used to broadcast a program called "Mother of Battles Radio" in February of 1991. Once that was established, the order was given in Saudi Arabia to take out the transmitter site. Pictures after the event show that the transmitter hall was blown away completely, but the antennas were left standing. Repair is now underway, and the first fruits are coming back on the air. Yesterday afternoon, we managed to get through to MR. SUJAVU(?), who's manager of the external service at RADIO KUWAIT, who confirmed that their Arabic service will be heard on SW again. MS: About the Arabic service; we have plans, you know, to run the -- the service 24 hours, maybe within a month. We face a lot of shortages now, you know, in the equipment and the employees, and these things. But I think within the month we'll go back to 24 hours. About the English service, I hope we'll start with -- by the National Day, which is 25 of February. JM: In addition to 6055 and 11990 kHz, RADIO KUWAIT officials advised us that a service to North America and Europe, in Arabic, is scheduled between 1700 to 1800 UTC on 15505 kHz. There seems to be some confusion about the times, though, but the frequency of 15505 kHz was mentioned by several people we spoke to a RADIO KUWAIT. Andy? - NEW WAVE RADIO AS: Well, a follow-up to last week's item about the NEW WAVE radio station, in Russia. The bulletin EURONEWS, edited by Finnish DXer RISTO KOTALAMPI, and distributed through USENET, mentions a single sideband [SSB] outlet for this station, which is heard in Finland between 1600 and 0100 UTC daily. The frequency varies slightly from day-to-day, but it's normally [nominally?] on 5775 kHz, 5-7-7-5, upper sideband [USB]. The bulletin suggests this may be a feeder to another transmitter site. JM: Undoubtedly. OK, let's take a call now from the AnswerLine. - RADIO NETHERLANDS INTERNATIONAL ON SATELLITE JR: Hello, this is JAMES ROBINSON(?), in Hereford, England. In reference to your mention of SWISS RADIO INTERNATIONAL on satellite on your program the 30th of January, I remember a few months ago you mentioned that this was going to occur. You also, at that same stage, round about September, mentioned that RADIO NETHERLANDS was also going to do this at some stage. Could you please tell us what those details are going to be, and if it's been decided? JM: Well, at a press conference in Oranjestad, the capital of Aruba [Netherlands Antilles], this past Tuesday, VICTOR HAFKAMP(?), who heads RADIO NETHERLANDS Caribbean Service, announced that we'll be launching our satellite feed to broadcast stations in that region on April the 7th. They'll be using PANAMSAT. As far as Europe is concerned, no satellite details have yet been released. Andy, on the other hand, you've learned about some people who have made a European commitment. - "SIGNALS" GETS THE BIRD -- TO EUROPE AS: Yes. For some time now, an American satellite network, called "LET'S TALK RADIO"(?), has been carrying several media programs on a regular basis. These programs are also heard on SW, but until recently the timing and propagation have not been suitable for listeners in Europe. Now one of the programs, called "SIGNALS", is about to be heard in this part of the world from the ASTRA satellite at 19.2 degrees east, via a new station called SOLAR RADIO. Tests from that station are due to start any day now, on transponder 20, frequency 11.508 gHz, audio subcarrier 7.38 mHz. And thanks to SW personality HAVANA MOON for that information. JM: So, that's transponder 20, frequency 11.508 gHz, and the audio subcarrier to look for is 7.38 mHz. And you say that the signal is also on SW. Now, since many of our listeners, of course, can't receive satellite signals from ASTRA, what about the SW option? AS: Yes, it has changed, in fact, since WRTH'92 was printed. The schedule is now as follows: on WWCR, in Nashville [Tennessee], USA, at 0435 UTC on Sunday, repeated at 0705 UTC on Monday, and those are both on 7435 kHz, 7-4- 3-5. But now there's a third airing, at 1605 UTC, Sunday, on 15690 kHz, 15- 6-9-0. And that time and frequency are more suitable for European listeners. JM: A lot of schedule changes on WWCR recently. OK, we'll watch out for that. What's next? - RADIO PORTUGAL AS: Well, another update to the Handbook. The time of RADIO PORTUGAL's 30- minute English transmission to the Middle East has changed, and it's now on the air at 1630 UTC, instead of 1500; that's on Monday to Friday only. The frequency, though, remains the same, 21515 kHz, 21-5-1-5. - RADIO ALGIERS JM: And, what with the news this past Sunday that the government of Algeria has declared a state of emergency, have you got any new recent information about the external service from Algiers? AS: Yes, I've just checked with BBC Monitoring, and it seems there are currently two English transmissions a day, one at 1700 to 1800 UTC on 17745 and 9535 kHz, for listeners in east Africa and the Middle East, and another at 2000 to 2100 UTC on 11715 kHz, beamed to Europe. JM: Actually, the transmission at 1700 on 17745 kHz is the best one heard in this part of Europe at the moment. Thank you, Andy. -=- MEDIA NETWORK TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS -=- CHRIS DEMPIER(?), who live in Stevenage, Hertforshire, in the UK, called us with an interesting comment concerning the first release of Media Network at 0730 UTC last Thursday. At the end of the program, he heard us apologize for problems in the satellite feed between our studios in Hilversum and the relay station in Bonaire. CD: Today, on the first two transmissions on Media Network, there was a number of breaks in the program tape. I don't think it was a transmission fault -- in other words, a satellite feed fault -- because all the breaks occurring at the same time suggest the tape might have been incorrectly dubbed. Thank you, bye for now. JM: The problem of the 10-second gaps was, in fact, a satellite feed. The reason the breaks occurred at exactly the same point an hour later -- in fact, two hours later, as well -- is because the 0830 and 0930 UTC transmissions are taped repeats of the 0730 live transmission, and originate from a tape recorder at the relay station on Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles. At the end of next month, we'll be switching to a live feed of the entire three hour transmission, once the PANAMSAT service starts. Now, to a monster conference! -=- THE BIG SORTOUT IN SPAIN: A WARC '92 UPDATE -=- [THE ADDAMS FAMILY theme song, finger-snapping and all; male voice, US accent: Radio knobs in a car; God, they're fragile! (crowd laughter) Just tryin' to tune somethin' in, just tryin' to find somethin' you can tolerate! (gulping noises, similar to quickly tuning across stations) And you wind up listening to something just the other side of the glove compartment! (crowd laughter)] [dramatic music, male announcer: THE BIG SORTOUT IN SPAIN: A WARC UPDATE!] JM: We're now ten days into the WORLD ADMINISTRATIVE RADIO CONFERENCE [WARC] taking place in Malaga, southern Spain. So here's GINGER DA SILVA to help me with a summary of some of the main points coming out of the conference. GDS: It's clear that with the collapse of Communism in eastern Europe and the USSR, the former conflicts at such meetings between East and West have disappeared. Now the discussion is far more between the industrialized countries in the northern hemisphere and developing countries, predominantly in the south. As far as broadcasting is concerned, the first week of the conference has been spent on deliberations as to whether or not to discuss the opening up of the tropical bands [120, 90, 60 meter bands] to international broadcasting. Currently, bands like 60 meters are reserved for domestic services. Although many countries are gradually building new MW or FM transmitters to reduce the dependence on SW, the non-aligned countries lobbied to stop or at least delay any discussion of international broadcasters using this part of the dial. They fear that the high powers used by international broadcasters will severely restrict the coverage of their lower-powered transmitters used for reaching people within their own country. The subject will now be discussed later on this month, if the conference is unable to find sufficient extra space for SW broadcasters in other parts of the spectrum. A lot of discussion time has been devoted to the question as to whether SW broadcasters really need extra space below 10 mHz. The Mexico and New Zealand delegations are against any expansion by SW broadcasters. Delegates representing European stations disagree, pointing to the terrible overcrowding in the 49 meter band, which causes serious problems for nighttime reception. But a majority of non-aligned countries is against any expansions in this range. They want to protect their fixed services, which use this part of the spectrum for point-to-point communications over a few hundred kilometers. Satellite communication is possible, but far too expensive. Lobbiests for the amateur radio services also seem to be making an impression, and possible expansion in this area has not been ruled out by many delegates. JM: Last week, we examined the subject of digital satellite radio. In theory, it could start very quickly. But, at present, there are no frequencies allocated to broadcasters at the right part of the dial for mobile reception. The picture at WARC seems to be somewhat confused at the moment. Most countries in the western hemisphere, with the exception of the United States, are in favor of finding frequency space around 1500 mHz, or 1.5 gHz. The USA is protecting the interests of commercial mobile users at 1500 mHz, and therefore proposes 2300 mHz as the best spot. The rest of the countries represented seem to have either no firm opinion or are in favor of putting satellite broadcasting at an even higher frequency, one about 2500 or even 2600 mHz. GDS: A compromise proposal by India is interesting. They suggest splitting the spectrum in two, offering the international broadcasters a space at 1500 mHz, and putting the domestic broadcasters, with a larger slice of spectrum, at 2600 mHz. However, this would mean dual-band radios if listeners wanted to get both services, and that would, of course, add to the cost. We'll know more in the course of this week, and all drafting of the proposals will have to be finished by the middle of next week. JM: RADIO NETHERLANDS' representative at WARC '92 is HANS BAKHUIZEN. ,-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-, | RADIO NETHERLANDS: EUROPE'S UNTAMED RADIO STATION! | '-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-' -=- BROADCASTING IN THE CIS -=- JM: 23 callers to RADIO NETHERLANDS' AnswerLine this week pointed out that transmitters in the Ukraine seem to have stopped carrying programs from Moscow and switched to programs from Kiev instead. RICHARD MEACHAM(?), manager of WBI [World Broadcasting Information] of BBC Monitoring, in Caversham Park, England, is following these changes more closely than most. He's on the line now. So, Richard, do you have a clearer picture of what's going on? RM: Yes, there's been, in fact, general turmoil in the former USSR as regards relay transmitters. For example, RADIO VILNIUS for the past week has been pleading with its listeners for more reception reports, because these, they say, have become absolutely vital due to the enormous increases in the rent of Russian-based and Ukrainian-based SW transmitters; so, they're obviously worried about costs there. Another thing that's happened since the 1st of February is that many of the republican radios that used former jammers in the Moscow area have now ceased to do so, and, according to RADIO MOSCOW WORLD SERVICE in Russian, this too is because of financial difficulties. They can no longer afford the relays in the Moscow area. JM: If I remember rightly, in the Russian capital there were quite a lot of transmitters on the air on SW, weren't there? RM: Yes, just about all the republics had access to at least one frequency at any one time in the Moscow area, so as to bring the voice of the various republics to the capital city of the USSR, which was Moscow at the time. And now at least seven of them have ceased to do so, and therefore they are only actually available now in their own republics. But this is also balanced by the fact that many of the republics have actually ceased broadcasting some of the services that came out of Moscow. So, it may well be "tit-for-tat" as much as financial. JM: And some of these other -- you know -- republican operations which -- which are on just half hour a day; I'm thinking of -- what was it -- RADIO GEORGIA in -- in English, for instance. Are they still around? RM: No, we have not heard RADIO GEORGIA in English for many, many months, and certainly before the trouble started in Tbilisi. But I think the biggest news in the past week or so is that the Ukraine has obviously acquired most, if not all, of the SW relay transmitters in the Ukraine, and it's actually deprived RADIO MOSCOW, especially RADIO MOSCOW WORLD SERVICE in English, of many frequencies. In surveys we've done over the past week or so, we've found that the Ukraine is now using at least 20 SW channels for its domestic services, as opposed to just two that it had before February started. JM: What about RADIO KIEV's English service? Have they benefited from all this? RM: Yes, they have, indeed. We're hearing them on at least double the amount of channels they had in January, and we're hearing RADIO KIEV in English at 2200 GMT on 9785, 7380, as well as the traditional 6020 and 5960 kHz. The 0100 GMT broadcast from RADIO KIEV is beamed to America, and judging by the frequencies, also to Europe, and those frequencies are 17690, 17605, 9860, 7400, 7240, 4825, and MW 936 kHz. JM: OK, there's one final item, connected with St. Petersburg. ERIK KOIE(?), last week in the program, talked about what he thought was RADIO POLIS(?). You think it's got a different name? RM: Yes, we've had two reports, one by RADIO MOSCOW WORLD SERVICE, and also we've actually listened to the radio station ourselves, and we think the name of the radio station is RADIOSTANZJA(?) POLYUS, and that is spelt P-O- L-Y-U-S, and "polyus" is Russian for "pole", as in "North Pole", "South Pole". JM: RICHARD MEACHAM, and a reminder that RADIO POLYUS is heard on 6045 kHz throughout the day here in Europe. From switch-on to a switch-off that's quietly occurred in Britain. The initial switch-on for the station was 18 months ago, and attracted a Minister of Transport to the opening. -=- AIRPORT INFORMATION RADIO -=- [male voice: Well, I'm delighted to declare the radio station open, and not to stand in the way of its first transmission. (clapping) female announcer: For the first time, at 11 a.m., on the 25th of June, 1990, you're listening to AIRPORT INFORMATION RADIO, making broadcasting history with our live traveler's information service. (music) male announcer: This is AIRPORT INFORMATION RADIO, Heathrow.] DM: Hello, Jonathan. This is DAVID MILLER(?) from Horsham, West Sussex, in the UK, with a report that both the Gatwick and Heathrow AIRPORT INFORMATION RADIO stations on 1584 kHz were taken off the air at midnight last Friday as the broadcasts didn't meet the required standards set by the Radio Authority. JM: It seems the owners were given five weeks to improve the service, matching the conditions of the original license. But they couldn't raise the required funds. So, we'll see what they do now, with a spare MW frequency. -=- BOUGAINVILLE -=- Media Network listener PATRICK McDONALD saw an item in the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD this past week, and gave us a call. It seems that the Australian amateur radio operator who's been operating from the rebel held area in Bougainville over the past few weeks has returned to Sydney to face the music. SAM VORAN(?), of Roseville, in Sydney, established a ham radio station on the island, as well as helping out with RADIO FREE BOUGAINVILLE, a broadcast station. The Australian government says its considering criminal charges for his radio activities, under the Australian Foreign Incursions Act. VORAN has been active in humanitarian work in China and Bangladesh in the past, and was in the Peace Camp along the Saudi-Iraqi border during last year's Gulf war. However, this time he took an active part in a political conflict. -=- BROADCASTING ENGLISH IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE -=- PATRICK MIDDLETON(?) lives in Nice, in the south of France, and awhile back on this program gave us an interesting portrait of English language broadcasting on the French Riveria. He's back with us now with an update as to what's going on. PM: Well, the last time I spoke to you, I think, Jonathan, there were five stations operating down there, and I think you've got two factors to take into account. The first is the economic situation, and the second is the attitude of the French authorities, who are very much against foreign language broadcasting on their territory. Now, there was a station called SUNSHINE RADIO, which operated out of Antibes; that was owned by the Oesten Group(?) in the UK. They were closed down. They thought they might get a license, and they -- they, in fact, waited around with the equipment in the studio; they actually, in fact, paid someone to sit in there for -- I think it was a year an a half. And, finally, they despaired and they've left. There was a station called RADIO MEMORY, which broadcast nothing but the big band sound. This was because the then-mayor of Nice, who has since run away and is now a refugee in Uruguay, his wife was very much into big band, and an American publisher who was a friend of MEDCIN(?), the mayor of Nice, in fact financed this station. And it ran, yet again, for about a year and a half, and it was suddenly closed down. The police arrived one day -- they claimed that they had a license, or that they had inherited a license from another station, but the French case was that the announcements were exclusively in English, and therefore it went down. Now we've got, at the moment, three stations. There's RIVERIA RADIO, that the station which has a history -- really, I suppose, going back about 10 years -- and it was bought nearly five years ago by London's CAPITAL RADIO, and since then it has become the major radio force in the area. Well, that's a very sort of heavy statement; it's a very small market. There are about 100,000 English speakers between the Italian frontier and Marseille. Increasing numbers of French listen to it, particularly the younger ones; students, executives, who want to improve their English. At the same time, that station's not without its problems, because the radio industry in the UK is in a very bad state at the moment, as you well know, and it seems that CAPITAL wants to divest itself of these sorts of fringe interests, and, in fact, the station is up for sale, at what I think is a fairly reasonable price. Is there anybody out there listening, Jonathan, who would like to buy a station in the south of France? They might like to make an offer! Around RIVERIA RADIO, which has a long range -- I mean, you can hear it right up to the -- the eastern fringes of Marseille -- you've got one or two small stations still surviving on very low power. There's a religious station called RADIO KOST, K-O-S-T, and that broadcasts to a very, very small audience, indeed. It's operating out of Italy, and you can't hear it beyond Monaco, and it broadcasts a diet of World Service news, with religious programs that don't seem to have a great appeal. Then there is a station which, again, has a long history, but very low power, so it's not made much of an impact there, which is now called CROWN RADIO(?). It was previously called ELECTRA(?). Now, this station is at the moment in process of being converted into something more ambitious by a former presenter with RIVERIA RADIO, ALAN WEST(?). I think the problem there is that the funding might not be forthcoming, and I would say there isn't really the scope in that kind of area for two full service radio stations, which is what Alan's ambition is. But there's still a third station -- fourth station, even. The station now called RADIO RELAX(?), which has had various names in the past, that broadcasts simply easy listening music, with announcements in three languages, and it's quite pleasant stuff to have running at your side when you're working. But that has run into trouble with the French as well, because they objected to the fact, despite the fact that it comes out of Italy, they said it was competing with French stations. How quite extraordinary their attitude, sometimes! And they have contrived that a number of French stations in the major cities have been assigned the same frequency, so now it's barely audible. JM: Now, what is the French policy on ... PM: Well, the French policy is quite simple. They've alway -- I -- I think you've got to remember, first of all, that in the long term the French have always felt that, within France, French should be the only language allowed for cultural communication. This is understandable historically, because if you go back to the foundations of the French Third Republic in the 1870s, at that time a third of the population spoke languages other than French, and they felt that the sort of basic duty of the state was to impose French. At the same time, they've since developed this great complex about French as a world language -- French as a world language under threat. And, therefore, they are very unhappy at the idea that on French territory there should be broadcasting in foreign languages. If you want to broadcast in a language which is not French, then you have no chance at all. There was a case recently of a station near Bordeaux, a small FM station, which operated partly in Spanish -- I think it was three hours a day -- and it's been closed. And then they have, to some extent, given way on the French regional languages; there's now more broadcasting in things like Breton and Corsican, but even that was done with immense reluctance. It -- it involved an enormous amount of pressure being brought on them, and I think you've got to put this into the context of a broader protectionism on the part of the French, because if you say to the French "1992", I mean, they just smile. JM: They say "1993", anyway, don't they? PM: Yes, they say "1993", but -- I mean, their time scale of obstructiveness [JM: Here...] runs well into the middle of the next century. I would have thought in many ways the chances of the French giving way on this and allowing a sort of cultural free-for-all, in broadcasting terms, is very small. I mean, for example, they -- they closed the station which relayed the BBC in Paris, didn't they. I mean, that was, I would have thought, a very respectable station, but it was closed. JM: On -- on the other hand, to be fair to the French, I mean, if you were trying to operate, let's say, RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONALE in London, you'd have some problems. PM: If it were RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONALE, perhaps, but you've got stations in London, like SUNRISE, which operate in all these immigrant languages. They have -- yes, I think that is a good point -- they have allowed, in Paris and in Marseille, a couple of Arabic stations to, in fact, run. I think they saw this as a kind of safety valve for the local Arab communities, though they closed one of them in Marseille because it broadcast -- what were at the time was a great success in the Arab world, a record called "Go To It, Saddam". And that upset them very much, so they closed the station, but there's still one running in Marseille, and there's another running in Paris. ,-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-, | MEDIA NETWORK: THE MOST INFORMATION ALLOWED BY LAW! | '-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-' -=- PROPAGATION SURVEY -=- JM: Well, now let's see how Mother Nature has been tampering with the laws of astrophysics! MIKE BIRD's on the line from Melbourne with the propagation review, and it's been a story week, from our monitoring here. Mike? MB: Oh, we experienced a sudden upsurge in solar activity, which resulted in a pretty big geomagnetic storm. Solar activity ranged between "low" and "high", and eight solar flares were reported. The most damaging took place last Thursday, when three flares erupted. The first was an M7 which peaked at 0329 UTC, the second was an M6 which peaked at 1859 UTC, and the third was an M4 which peaked at 2103 UTC. These flares produced low and high speed protons, as well as a polar cap absorption event, which started on Friday at 0645 UTC, lasting until 1940 UTC on Saturday. The solar flux averaged out to 230.8 for the week, and that equals an effective sunspot number of 168, which is down on the previous week's level of 231. The geomagnetic disturbance field indicator, the Fredericksburg [Virginia] A- Index, has ranged between 48 and 6, which represents "major storm" to "quiet conditions". The field was "quiet to unsettled" on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, a sudden impulse to the field was recorded at 1427 UTC, and storm conditions prevailed until late on Monday. Since then, conditions have been "quiet to unsettled". JM: Good gracious, what an impulse! Is that going to continue for the next seven days? MB: Well, keeping everything crossed, conditions are expected to be quite good. Solar activity should be "low to moderate", and the geomagnetic field will hopefully be "quiet to unsettled". JM: Well, finally, I was talking to the new coordinator for ANARC [Association of North American Radio Clubs], RICHARD DIANGELO(?), in the United States, who said he went to a DX camp this past weekend, and he mentioned that reception conditions, especially over Friday and Saturday, were phenomenally good from Asia, from his part of the world. Any particular comments from yours? MB: Well, we experienced the same thing here, in Australia. One of our leading MW DXers, DAVID HEADLAND(?), phoned me and said that he received incredible signals on MW from China and North America on Friday and Saturday. So, I wonder if anybody else listening to your program heard the same thing? JM: Well, if you did, call our AnswerLine, here in Hilversum; the number: 724222, and the lines are open now. I heard ARNIE CORO, of RADIO HAVANA CUBA, saying on Tuesday that you can send electronic mail to Havana now. In fact, you can do the same to the Media Network team; we have an account with the MCI Mail system in the United States, and that in turn has an account with the INTERNET system worldwide, mainly used by universities. We currently get about 75 to 100 messages a week electronically; we haven't publicized this on the air until now, because the number of people with such a facility at their disposal is, of course, limited. But if you want to try the MCI route, the account number is 3382983, that's 338-29-83. Next week, the solution to the DX NIGHTMARE contest; if you entered, don't forget to join us. In the meantime, have a pleasant weekend. -=- END OF SHOW -=- MEDIA NETWORK SCHEDULE: (from the RNI Winter English Schedule) 0730: 11895, 9630 New Zealand 0830: 11895 New Zealand, Southeast Asia 0930: 21485, 17575 Australia 1130: 21520, 21480, 17575, 9715, 5955 Southeast Asia, Europe 1430: 17580, 15150, 13770, 13700, 5955 Southwest Asia, Europe 1630: 15570, 6020 South & East Africa 1830: 21685, 17605, 15570, 6020 South & Central Africa 2030: 13700, 11660, 9895, 9860, 7285 West Africa 0030: 11835(SSB), 6165, 6020 Eastern North America 0330: 11720, 9590 Western North America Transcript prepared by William Kelsey Theology Department St. Mary of the Plains College Dodge City, Kansas -- Jason Berri [berri@aero.org or berri@arecibo.aero.org] [SPEEDX USSR Editor - send email for more info on the SPEEDX SWL club]