WORLDWIDE DX CLUB Weekly Top News

4869.94 RRI Wamena not heard since late May. Hope they have not un-
reactivated.
(John Wilkins-CO-USA, Dxplorer June 14)
Per Wamena is 8 degrees further east, and 3
degrees further south than Sorong, but fadeout times should be determined
by local sunrise in Florida. Slightly different azimuth of arrival may be
in play, but this is around sundown in Papua so both stations would be
fading in, not out from that end.
(Glenn Hauser-OK-USA, dxld June 16)
9525, VOI, June 12, 0821-0900, in English; program "Getting to Know INS",
canned ID, pop INSn songs, business nx (gives capital expenditures for oil
and gas production, new economic zone proposed, Customs and Excise to
generate more revenue, etc.), 0855 "News in brief" (national news: status
of foreign aid for the Indo. earthquake, etc.), ends English segment with
V.O.I. ID and freqs (9525, 15150 and 11785), but I only heard 9525, fair.
Enjoyed hearing this English portion of their broadcast.
(Ron Howard-CA-USA, dxld June 18)
4604.9 RRI Serui returned my Prepared Post Card (PPC) (filled out,
stamped and signed) along with a letter in English from v/s M. Yawandare,
Manager Siaran, in 7 months (it looks like reply was at least 2 months in
transit from station). This for report in Bahasa INS, mint stamps (not
used) and postcard. I mailed my report to: Jalan Pattimura Kotak Pos 19,
Serui 98213, Papua, INS. Frankly, I was not expecting this!
(John Herkimer-NY-USA, Dxplorer June 14)
IRAN Iranians may be rediscovering shortwave.
The new media of international broadcasting - internet, satellite, local
relays - are wondrous. But they also keep getting shut down by govts that
do not want their people to receive international broadcasts. This is why
it's a good idea to maintain a SW capability, as SW is the least
interdictable of the media available to international broadcasters.
A recent illustration of this is a BBC report
on 18 May about developments in Iran. "The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
(IRGC), a hardline body guarding the gains of the 1979 Islamic revolution,
intends to increase the number of jamming stations in Tehran and other
cities from 50 to 300 within two years."
These jamming stations would attempt to block satellite broadcasts aimed
at Iran. At the Ku-band freqs used by these satellites, the range of the
terrestrial direct-wave jammers would be limited. And previous reports
have suggested health dangers of high-powered jamming up around 12 GHz.
Iran is also seeking to block internet content from outside the country.
Via BBC Monitoring, the Iranian newspaper Sharq (via BBC Monitoring)
reported on May 1 that "Iran's Central Filtering Site, with the capability
to identify internet users and record the sites they visit, will soon
enter its test phase. The centre is intended to block unauthorized sites
uniformly across the country."
So for Iranians seeking to get nx from abroad, they may soon have to rely
again on long-distance radio. Radio Farda is available via medium wave
from across the Persian Gulf. But on medium wave, the closer tx, i.e. the
jamming tx, usually prevails. It's on SW, and only on SW, that physics
often grants the more distant tx the advantage in a battle with a co-
channel jammer.