YIMYYYM MINYYMM YINYMYYMOYYM MYEMYYM MY.I.YMY MMMIM1 MY. YNIMMYMM MYMMMY Y2 IYMMMYM11.= IIMYMMIMY ..my ymm MEMO MIYM myyy IYMOMM my. mmy YMM mymyy myMY myyy myymyymmmmyyy ymmyymyImmma YM ymyyyMYMMUMNY MYMYYM YMIMIII.MMY MYY11IYMMI .1my «MY Y101 MIYIBIYMY MY By YY11 oyM y.yyy MY MIYI My MY MMM MIMMI MO YIMM BaMMW MMI MMY WYM MY IY11 YMYYMIM MYM11 YMYMYM NIIYI MY. MYYRYYM MYiMM YYMOMM YOYMMIM MYB3 ffln YM YMYYMBYYMMYM ,;m MYYMY MYMMY« YMMYY Volume 18 FEBRUARY/MARCH 1988 Number 2 SIP KIM DS "La Vo2- Jet gaea-Te-113.. ECUaclor." Opportunities Available! See 'Keynotes". page 46 IN THE FEBRUARY/MARCH SPEEDX... 2 DX Montage Janusz 27 Africa Ouaglieri 7 Program Panorama Seymour 33 Asia/Oceania Thunberg 9 Station Skeds Bowden 39 Utility Scene Knapp & Sable 45SPEEDXSpotlights Trautschold 12 North America Caribbean Kephal-t le Latin amerite, , :::,,,,, ,Muff alter 40 Keyntitee 20 Europe Sampson 47 Subscription Service Form 233SSR Berri THE DX MAGAZINE FOR ACTIVE SWILs !!1"/!l ® n a u e vw.0 TV ;. Ed Janusz Box 149 Bricktown, NJ 08723 THE OFFICIAL RADIO NOOZE COLUMN OF THE 1988 OLYMPICS.... FEBRUARY, 1988 Hi. Thanks to all of you who have written to this column; the turnout this month has been super. And what is your reward, gentle SPEEDX'ers? Why, more work, that's what! SPEEDX REDUX: OR, THE RETURN OF THE POLL Remember the SPEEDX Popularity Poll which ran in these pages last July? We're doing it again...with a few new questions. 1) What are your five favorite INTERNATIONAL short wave stations? 2) What are your three favorite TROPICAL -BAND stations? 3) Which station provides the best WORLD NEWS coverage? 4) Ditto for REGIONAL NEWS coverage. 5) What are your five favorite PROGRAMMES? 6) Who are your three favorite on -air PERSONALITIES on the SW bands? 7) What is your favorite INTERVAL SIGNAL? 8) Which station issues the most attractive QSL CARDS? 9) Which station (of those directed to your area) do you listen LEAST? to the 10) What are your three favorite (international and/or tropical) tions for MUSIC? sta- 11) Which three stations would you like to HEAR BETTER? 12) What is your favorite COMMUNIST station? 13) Which two stations have personnel who sound the MOST ENTHUSIASTIC about what they're doing? 14) Ditto, but make it MOST APATHETIC -sounding. 15) Which station is MOST the IMPROVED in programming content over the past year or two? RULES: Write your answers to some, most, or all of these questions a piece on of paper. (If possible, please print or type). Send them David Jones (deadline to 5 May) or directly to me (deadline 12 May). You just read the rules. I've gone for a generous deadline, partly because we will new publisher be having a shortly and this column might be a bit delayed transition period, in the and partly to give our overseas readers a chance get in on this. to And I will print the results. I don't know what happened (assuming last year, but I don't manage to enrage a Sumo wrestler or something) won't happen this year. it Please vote. And the earlier the better, too, if possible, to help ensure the most accurate tabulation I can manage. (Your editor is capable of great accuracy, of course; but he isn't the speediest fellow on earth). CANADIAN CORNER Canadians who want to stock up on the current reference books could do far worse than to write to: Don Moman # 61 - 52152 Range Road 210 Sherwood Park, Alberta T8G 1A5 Available are: 1988 WRTH, $26 4th class, $28 1st class, $30 special delivery; PASSPORT (ex-RDI), $20; the DSWCI Tropical Bands Survey, $6; sample copy of the CIDX's monthly Messenger, $1. All amounts in Cana- dian dollars; checks/MO's payable to CIDX. (Don Moman, a veteran SPEEDX'er and all-around good guy, is Executive Secretary for Z CIDX, the Canadian International DX Club). ARI: SOLVED! story on this elusive sys- Swiss SPEEDX'er Martin Bösch completes the into European radio: tem, and offers some fascinating insights Because of Autofahrer (driver) Radio Information System. ARI means to the topo- audio, most European drivers prefer FM, due the better good reception only in graphic conditions, the FM transmitters provide In Switzerland. we have small areas. about 50 kilometers at most. 58 kW to only 25 W. one in about 330 FM transmitters with powers from for over 100 kilometers will nearly every valley. A driver who goes five times to stay on the same have to change the frequency at least programme. state, there are usually three govern- In every European country and/or music of which one will provide easy -listening mental radio programmes. easier for their information on the half-hour. To make it and traffic all European find the traffic information chain, nearly listeners to stations which introduced ARI in recent years. All the countries carrier (at 1/10th the provide traffic information transmit a second the ARI identification signal. power) a few kHz away: This is will be silent (like a squelch); If you press the ARI button. your radio station. the little ARI LED you tune in to a traffic information if You'll be tuned to the lower - will glow. and you'll hear the station. be strong enough to be powered carrier, but the main signal should radio will be silent; so turn the heard. If you leave the region, your ARI carrier signal. tuning knob until you have found the next If you drive near the border, for ARI is not a "unique technology." ARI signals; but the stations you'll receive a lot of different example. pis.... This autumn, the could transmit in French, for example. tant also in use in some Scandi- Swiss PTT introduced a new system which is It is compatible with navian countries: RDS, or Radio Data System. a digital station -information ARI, but the subcarrier also provides Channel 1 of the For example. if you are in my town, 99.1 is code. "DRS -1" is transmitted German-speaking section of Swiss Radio. DRS -1. LCD display on the radio. If you the carrier and shown on a little on the signal will be too poor. leave the area of the transmitter on 99.1, Press a button, and the radio and the radio will be switched silent. for another ORS -1 signal. will activate a scanning system to look transmitting area. it the possibilities: In the whole You can imagine manual tuning. easy to find your favorite station. With will be very automatically station ID of the RDS-system station will be the provide additional infor- displayed. In the future. it is planned to for Music, other letters on the RDS display: For example, "M" mation But for now. only the most Sports, Speech, Classical Music. etc. for RDS signals, the rest powerful stations along the motorways provide will be in the future.... MISSING IN ACTION GATEWAY DX CLUB: DX Club Inter- from Eric Bueneman, president of the Gateway We've heard to attract new advising us that the club has not been able national, that it may have to members since its reactivation a year ago, and accepting merger offers. consider for the interest of radio The Gateway DX Club was formed primarily Bueneman, GDXCI, 836 Lamplight Lane, fans in the Midwestern USA. (Eric Hazelwood, MO 63042) HELICOPTERS helicopters, supposedly the most advanced Sikorsky UH -60 "Black Hawk" waves. repertoire, seem to be vulnerable to radio in the U. S. Army's low -powered "stabilator," or rear wing, is controlled by The UH -60's by higher - signals which apparently can be overwhelmed electromagnetic 'copter doesn't know powered signals in the area --in which case, the literally uncontrollable. what to do, and becomes in Alabama Hawks were grounded last year, after one crashed The Black the vicinity). someone was operating a souped -up CB radio in (where after 49 days, Army aviation officials ordered them back up However, safety experts telling either top brass or the pilots that without accident happening believed that there was a 50% chance of a similar is to be the cause within a year. So far, RF interference believed servicemen. of five crashes which cost the lives of 22 3 The Navy became aware of an RF problem in its first batch of UH -60s, and has since required thicker shielding on its "Sea Hawk" version. The Army's position is that extra shielding could be a costly exer- cise that won't solve the problem; radio interference, by its very nature, can't be "fingerprinted," and the Army intends to explore other possible causes of the Black Hawk's dismal safety record before making a decision. The most visible critic of the 'copter, Major Harry McVey, who led the investigation into one of last year's fatal crashes, has since retired from the service. (Tampa Tribune -Times, via Harold Langlois; Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Herald -Examiner, via James Kline) ANTENNAS AND PORTABLES An essay by Paul Wakefield I purchased a Sony ICF-2010 just over a year ago. I had been using a Realistic DX -160 at the time, and had intended to use the Sony as a field portable and travel radio; but it seems that I had underestimated the progress made in radio design. It took only a few days to overcome my reluctance to'consider a portable as my primary receiver. While the Sony performs well using the internal whip, I have had no problems using my old antenna system.