WORLDWIDE DX CLUB Weekly Top News

VOA has only 7 and 9 MHz. band antennas ... From USA, we can cover Latin
America and Canada only."
Now for the present problem about the closing of Kavala and Rhodes relay
stations. It has been quite a while since I last heard from Babis
[Charalampopoulos], but I know that he is busy sending out QSL cards and
getting his A-06 schedule put together after the recent HFCC meeting.
(...)
Personally, I don't think that there will be any problems right now and
believe that the 3 Avlis and 2 Kavala txs will be in operation tor the A06
broadcasting season. But, come October 29 for the B06 season, I am sure
that will be the beginning of the end for VOG's 2 Kavala txs.
As for Delano and Greenville, I look for the end of txions from the USA.
Perhaps the agreement for those 12 hours was based on "we will give you
use of Delano and Greenville in return for using Greek soil to operate our
Kavala and Rhodes txs." Will VOG now put those Portugal txs into use in
Avlis and Thessaloniki? Will VOG take over the Kavala facility for VOG's
operation? They will need those Kavala txs if they want to get a good
signal to Australia, etc. if they intend to continue short-wave operation.
I believe that, for Greece, short wave exists to further information about
Greece and its tourist attractions plus nostalgia about the homeland for
the diaspora.
Unfortunately my crystal ball is very cloudy about the future of short
wave; but, personally I cannot see myself sitting around listening to VOG
on the Internet, even if that is one option. Short wave direct from the
homeland has that extra feeling of being closer to the motherland.
(excerpt)
(John Babbis-MD-USA, dxld Mar 2)
THE KAVALA GAP Is VOA still a global broadcaster? Kim Andrew Elliott
discussing International Broadcasting and Public Diplomacy
Employees of the Voice of America have been suffering a spate of bad nx
lately. First, on February 1, we learned that, in a budget cutting
exercise, VOA would eliminate about 250 hours of SW txion daily. That
amounted to about one freq of three used for most broadcasts. Then, on
February 6, we were informed that that VOA would be dropping radio
broadcasts on twelve of its lang sces, including the worldwide English VOA
Nx Now.
And, if that were not enough, an e-mail on February 24 told us that the
Greek relay stations of the International Broadcasting Bureau (VOA's
parent agency) would be shut down. These facilities include several SW and
one medium wave (AM) txs at Kavala and one medium wave tx at Rhodes.
The SW txs at Kavala officially served Europe, the former Soviet Union,
Africa, the Middle East, and even East Asia. Signals from Kavala were
routinely heard beyond those areas, including (Smith-Mundt law banning
domestic dissemination of VOA programs notwithstanding) the United States.
During special live New year's editions of my former VOA program
Communications World, listeners would call or e-mail me from New Zealand,
Japan, India, Africa, Europe, and the United States - and they were all
listening to the same freq from Kavala: 15205 kilohertz. This amazing
relay station is in just the right location to cover most of the globe.
Of the two medium wave txs in Greece, 1260 kilohertz is a standout. It
reached well into the Levant. The freq was very popular among listeners to
VOA Nx Now (VOA's global English sce), including American expats in