WORLDWIDE DX CLUB Weekly Top News

(Glenn Hauser-OK-USA, dxld Aug 9)
Via Saipan in Mandarin 17615 300 degr and 17880 310 degr at 0300-0700 UT
100kW. (wb)
SERBIA The ITU assigned a new country code to Serbia: SRB (formerly SCG
for "Serbia & Montenegro").
(Bernd Trutenau-LTU, dxld Aug 6)
SOUTH AFRICA 4880 kHz UNID weak station heard Aug 6 1858 with close at
1900* on 4880 kHz (on which freq the No's "Uniform Lima Xray Two" station
continued with strong signals). S.Africa here again (with SW Radio Africa
or other px??)? Will try agn tonight (Aug 9)
(Finn Krone-DEN, DXplorer Aug 9)
Finn, this UNID starts at 1700 with singing "Africa, Africa..." and M
anncmt in En (as I heard it "SW ...") announcer is very likely SABC's I
think it's AFS. German Num util. fortunately on USB so using Lsb leaves
only AIR co-channel (i think they'll go off at 1740v so PROP to AFS would
enhance in an hour - chances for clear ID at 18 would be much better).
(Vlad Titarev-UKR, DXplorer Aug 9)
11890 R. Okapi via Meyerton Aug 03 1615-1621 35333 French, Talk, ID at
1615.
(Kouji Hashimoto-JPN, JPNpremium Aug 11)
SPAIN Radio World article on Playa de Pals. Full article with photos:
(Mike Barraclough-UK, dxld Aug 4)
(wb) Re-directs to:
THE DEMISE OF PLAYA DE PALS: FINAL CHAPTER With the dynamiting of the 13
antenna support towers, the installation of one of the world's great SW
stations has been destroyed beyond recuperation.
by David L. Hollyer
Photo by Jep Bogunya, courtesy
[captions]
Photo courtesy and
It took only a few seconds and about 32 pounds of dynamite to bring down
and destroy $10 million worth of technically sophisticated antennas that
had taken years to design and construct.
The destruction brings to an end an era that utilized high-power SW
stations to reach the Soviet Union with nx and information with broadcasts
in its own langs. In this field, the station at Playa de Pals on Spain's
Costa Brava, with its specially designed antenna arrays, was one of the
most effective SW stations to reach the Soviet Union on first hop - and
Central Asia on second hop, with a little slewing. It had done this job
for the United States govt for more than 40 years.
In the March 1, 2003 issue of Radio World, I described the process that
closed the SW operation at Playa de Pals and turned back the land to the
Spanish govt, "mothballing" the installation and leaving its ultimate fate
in limbo.
One option was destruction of the antenna to clear the land for eventual
use as a park. Now it has happened.