Tuesday, April 27, 2010

DW FM Bangladesh

Dear Friends,

Would like to inform you that, DW have not yet received on FM in Rajshahi, Rangpur and Khulna (last logging 27 April UTC 1400-1425).
Friends from Khulna confirmed, not receiving FM there and DXer Salahuddin Dolar also confirmed me DW FM only On Air on Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong only.

73 from

Ashik

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Re: [dxld] Holy Tibet via CNR 11

Yesterday heard Holy Tibet 
from 1630 to 1700 UTC in 594, 4905, 4920, 6110, 6130, 6200 kHz

I have not checked other frequencies, as I preferred to listen it on 594 kHz MW with good reception as there was a local power cut at that time.

RX: Redsun RP 2100
Antenna: built in antennas.
Listening post:  26.719010 North; 88.434126 East
-- 
73s,

Partha Sarathi Goswami

On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 8:15 AM, Sei-ichi Hasegawa wrote:


Schedule of Holy Tibet via CNR-11 was changed from April 11.
Holy Tibet in English via CNR-11
1400-1430 6010, 7350, 9480
0500-0530 9530, 11685, 15570
 
The schedule of Tibet PBS is not changed.
Holy Tibet in English via Tibet PBS
2230-2300 4905, 4920, 5240, 6110, 6130, 6200, 7255, 7385
0600-0630 4905, 4920, 5240, 6110, 6130, 6200, 9490, 9580
1530-1600 4905, 4920, 5240, 6110, 6130, 6200, 7255, 7385  
 
de Hiroshi
 
S.Hasegawa
NDXC

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The Secret War - The Battle of the Beams

Source: From Youtube;

A crumbled piece of paper recovered from a crashed German bomber had written on it a list of navigational aids: light and radio beacons; it also included a codename, 'Knickebein' - 'The Crooked Leg' a name unknown to British intelligence. The unravelling of the secrets of Knickebein by British scientists led to the Battle of the Beams and the first moves in electronic warfare.

The story of re-commissioning the transmitter to prosecute the war was a huge state secret. Many of the BBC engineers involved signed the Official Secrets Act and until late in their lives were mostly reluctant to make their story public. There are surprisingly few public records to help historians.

The scientific boffins within the intelligence agencies tasked Professor R.V. Jones with finding out how the transmitter might be used. Based at Bletchley Park , Jones scoured pre-war files of the Secret Intelligence Services to see if there was any evidence of a German secret weapon.

At the same time as this research was ongoing in early 1940, BBC engineer Tony Bridgewater was asked to return to Ally Pally to get the transmitter up and running on a care and maintenance basis; he was almost certainly unaware of what for. They would soon be pressed into service.

By the end of 1940 intelligence reports showed that a new system was being developed because the British had clearly learned to jam that system. The Y-Gerat system was a groundbreaking a way of keeping ahead of British jamming capabilities.

By a stroke of good fortune, the Y-Gerat system was working within the same frequency spectrum (40-50MHz) as the sound and vision television transmitter at.You guessed it, Ally Pally!

In October 1940 Wilfred Pafford, another engineer with the BBC since 1932, returned to head up operations at Ally Pally for Operation Domino. He was to remain as the engineer in charge until the end of the War.

The MoD decided to set up a listening station at Swains Lane in Highgate. In a set of huts attached to a huge relay transmitter (a huge mast is still in place) used for Outside Broadcasts before the war, a domestic EMI television was modified to listen to the radio traffic between the German command station in Kassel (and elsewhere in France) and the German navigators on bombing raids over Britain.

Incoming German bomber pilots would maintain the aircraft's correct bearing by following an instrument which monitored the path of a radio beam. When the German ground station had calculated the pilot was correctly positioned over the target a message from the ground station was sent instructing the bomb aimer to release his load.

From February 4th 1941 the date of the first bombing raid using the Y-Gerat system on Britain, by pure coincidence everything was in place to give the Swains Lane and Ally Pally teams a crucial opportunity to interfere with the information being sent to the bomb aimer.

In effect, BBC Engineers had devised a system which could 'capture' the German frequency momentarily and create a 'howl round' effect in the German navigational device when the transmitter at Ally Pally was switched on. Imagine the sound when a microphone is turned up too high at a concert: All that in the flying crew's headphones.

Once the operators at Swains Lane had decided that the German navigator had missed his opportunity to identify the target, the Ally Pally transmitter would be turned to standby ready to be re-activated for the next bomb aimer.

The jamming system may have been relatively crude but it's claimed that no more than 25% of bombers on Y-Gerat controlled air raids released their bomb loads.

It's estimated that this system of jamming went undetected until May 1941. So adept had the BBC engineers become that even when the Germans suspected their system was fallible it was simply a matter of retuning the transmitter when the German operators changed the frequency. Ally Pally's role remained undetected.

The BBC transmitter can claim credit for undermining a crucial part of the technology which aimed to lay waste to many of our cities.

Wilfred Pafford has just celebrated his 101st birthday and now lives in a nursing home in Southern England, the last of the Battle of the Beam engineers.

Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAhKcs...



Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiSqCD...

Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDv1EL...

Part Four:

Part Five: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPy2VL...

Originally transmitted: 5th January 1977

A news report on Alexandra Palace during World War II can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVhLJj...

This film footage is from the Archive Collection held by the Alexandra Palace Television Society.

http://www.apts.org.uk

~ APTS ~
Preserving the televisual past for the digital future

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

All India Radio Churachandpur to be inaugurated

A red-letter day for Churachandpur district today
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, April 12 2010: April 12, Tuesday, 2010 will remain as a red-letter day in the history of Manipur in general, and Churachandpur district in particular.

This day will be a special day for the All India Radio too ! .

For, the All India Radio Churachandpur station will be officially inaugurated tomorrow after 10 years of completion of the construction of the station complex, and having all the necessary machineries, equipments and staffs.

State Chief Minister Okram Ibobi will inaugurate the station at a glittering function to be held on the premises of the radio station at Churachandpur tomorrow morning.

Minister of Power, Horticulture & Soil Conservation, Science & Technology, Phungzathang Tonsing, Minister of PHED, Information & Public Relations and Tourism, TN Haokip and other MLAs of assembly constituencies of Churachandpur district are expected to be present on the historic occasion.

Deputy Director General, All India Radio, North East Region-II, C Lalrosanga will also attend the function.

He has been camping in Imphal for the past three days specially for the inauguration of the Churachandpur station of AIR.

Chief Minister Ibobi will anounce the most eagerly awaited "link-language" of the AIR Churachandpur station during the inaugural function tomorrow.

It is worth mentioning here that preparations for commisioning the AIR Churachandpur station were completed way back in 2000 .

However, due to a dispute regarding which dialect would be the link-language, the commissioning of the station had remained postponed for the last almost 10 years.

Earlier, Prasar Bharti had approved Paite dialect as the link-language of the station.

But controversy arose, and commissioning of the AIR Churachandpur station could not materialise.

The matter was taken to Gauhati High Court.

The High Court later ordered that the decision on which dialect should be the link-language of the AIR Churachandpur should be taken by the Government of Manipur.

After years of procrastination, for fear of treading on communal sentiments, the Government of Manipur under the leadership of Chief Minister O Ibobi has recently taken a bold decision to commission the AIR Churachandpur station.

Most reliable sources told this newspaper that the State Cabinet recently took the decision on which dialect should be the link-language of the station.

However, due to fear of a possible communal backlash, the authority decided that it would be the best to keep the link-language as a secret till the inauguration, when the Chief Minister himself would make the historic announcement.

Sources said that the earlier dispute regarding the link-language had been solved under the initiative of Chief Minister O Ibobi.

That is how the AIR Churachandpur station is going to be inaugurated tomorrow, the sources said.

Deputy Director General, AIR NE Region-II C Lalrosanga told this newspaper that the All India Radio would go along with the decision on the link-language taken by the Government of Manipur.

Superintending Engineer of AIR Imphal, Md Kamaruddin told the Hueiyen Lanpao that the AIR Churachandpur is going to be an independent radio station, with its own station director, programme executives, staffs and all.

It's not going to be a local branch of AIR Imphal.

To start with the programmes, the AIR Churachandpur will relay the programmes of FM Rainbow of New Delhi from 4 pm to 5.30 pm.

From 5.30 pm onward, direct local programmes will be broadcast.

The daily programmes will start from 4pm and close at 9.30 pm.

The AIR Churachandpur station will cover the entire district.

Friday, April 09, 2010

Somali Islamists seize radio transmitters for BBC

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN
The Associated Press
Friday, April 9, 2010; 12:35 PM

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Somali Islamists on Friday seized radio transmitters that let the local population hear news programs from the British Broadcasting Corporation, witnesses said.

Militia group al-Shabab accused the BBC of broadcasting anti-Islamic propaganda.

Resident Jibril Abdi said the extremist group's fighters confiscated FM radio transmitters in the capital of Mogadishu. Other witnesses reported the same in other towns.

The BBC said in a statement it was "concerned at any attempt to prevent its broadcasts reaching its audiences in Somalia and is working hard to get back on air."

Jerry Timmins, BBC Head of International Relations and Africa Region, said, "The action has resulted in all BBC output being taken off air including BBC Somali, Arabic and English language output."

"The BBC speaks to all sides in Somalia - including al-Shabab - and reports events as they unfold. It is essential for the people of Somalia that the BBC is allowed to continue to report accurately and impartially on the situation in the country without undue interference from anyone."

The BBC has been broadcasting in Somali for 50 years.

Al-Shabab insurgents control much of southern and central Somalia, including large portions of Mogadishu. They frequently threaten or assassinate journalists whose coverage they disagree with.

The group wants to topple the country's weak U.N.-backed government and replace it with an Islamic state. Somalia has not had an effective government for nearly 20 years.