Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Date:         Sat, 11 Apr 1992 17:26:42 EDT
Reply-To:     socomcy@GSVMS2.CC.GASOU.EDU
From:         socomcy@GSVMS2.CC.GASOU.EDU
Subject:      Premier Issue Utility World
X-To:         swl-l@cuvma.columbia.edu

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   The following file is courtesy of the SPEEDX shortwave listeners club
   and is an actual excerpt from the February 1992 Utility World Column.

   All references to the material in this file should acknowledge credit
   to the author and the SPEEDX club bulletin.

   SPEEDX is published monthly by SPEEDX (the Society to Preserve the
   Engrossing Enjoyment of DXing), DuBois, PA, USA, a non-profit hobby
   organization founded in 1971.

   To obtain a sample copy of the SPEEDX Bulletin, please contact the
   publisher:
                   Edward Janusz, Publisher
                   P.O. Box 149
                   Bricktown, New Jersey  08723-0149
                   United States of America
********************************************************************

                        SPEEDX UTILITY WORLD
                     Special Electronic Edition
                           February 1992

                                   Chuck Yarbrough, Editor
                                   Internet: socomcy@gsvms2.cc.GaSoU.EDU
                                        CompuServe: 70544,2566

   Contributions are solicited and welcomed. All contributions
        should be submitted via E-mail by the 19th of the month.
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------

   I hope your DX season has been productive. By the volume of
contributions received over the last few months, the season MUST be going
well!
   We have some sad news this month to report. I felt the news was so
important that I have devoted this month's entire issue to it. I won't keep you
in suspense any longer.
The Electronic Wall Falls

   In a move which surprised many, the Soviet TASS (Telegrafnoie
Agentstwo Sowjetskojo Sojusa) press association has permanently discontinued
all shortwave radioteletype broadcasts.
   In a telephone interview from his office in Moscow, Vadim Polyakov, the
Deputy Chief of the TASS English Service, stated, "As from January 1, 1992 all
TASS radio broadcasts in all languages have been discontinued. There are no
plans to revive any radio broadcasts in the future."
   The move by TASS surprised utility monitors and TASS North American
staff alike. Vladimir Prosverakov, chief TASS engineer for North America,
stated, "I have no knowledge of this."
   The permanence of the TASS move was punctuated by the recall of the
TASS Radio service engineering staff. Both of the full-time engineers on the
staff were recalled back to Moscow, according to a staff reporter in their
Havana, Cuba bureau. The last technician left Cuba on 9 January 1992.
   According to Polyakov, the only way to receive the TASS news service
is via satellite link. In North America, the Moscow-New York satellite link has
been the primary means of delivery since the late 1970s. Prosverakov was
surprised that a radio link had existed prior to January 1. Evidently the Havana
transmitter site was not a part of the North American service.
   The demise of TASS on shortwave would seem to conclude the cold war
era on the radio. The departure reflects two trends. First, the era of
confrontation and international ideological rivalry between the United States
and the USSR is clearly over. Neither nation can afford to maintain the
trappings of that era. Indeed, the USSR as a nation has ceased to exist. Second,
the technology of digital communication transmission via satellite reduce both
the cost and improve the quality of the signal in the intended target area.
   As you may remember, the United States Information Agency (ie. VOA)
ceased RTTY transmissions last March, as reported here in Utility World. So
perhaps the demise of the TASS RTTY transmissions is not so surprising after
all.
   It must be remembered, however, that TASS as a news service still exists.
In fact, it seems to have made the leap from voice for the USSR to the voice
of the Russian Republic relatively unscathed. With the demise of
GOSTELRADIO (USSR State Radio), TASS is still funded through the Russian
Republican Government.
   The inital report of the TASS move was originally reported by Tom
Sundstrom via Radio Netherlands' Media Network program (01/09/92).

What is TASS?

   The cessation of TASS RTTY transmissions concludes an important
chapter in shortwave history. The news organization has been in continuous
duty since Vladimir Lenin mandated that the Petrograd Telegraph Agency (PTA)
perform the task of informing all workers, soldiers, and political officials and
to act as the Communist Party clearinghouse of information.
   In June 1918 the PTA merged with the All-Russia Central Executive
Committee, thereby forming the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA). ROSTA
acted as the central dissemination point of all news items to both foreign and
domestic media. In fact, all of the modern Soviet publications and broadcasting
authorities came from the ROSTA authority under the direct leadership of
Lenin.
   With the death of Lenin and the election of Stalin to the Soviet
Premiership in 1925, a reorganization of ROSTA. On July 10, 1925 TASS was
officially founded as the international information service of the Soviet Union
with the express duty of communicating the Communist revolution to all parts
of the world.
   During the Second World War (the Great Patriotic War in the USSR),
TASS continued to broadcast the successes of the Soviet Forces and espouse the
Soviet point of view to the world. It was during the 1930s and 1940s that
TASS gained worldwide coverage capability on shortwave. One of its greatest
responsibilities during the war was to reach the various guerilla newspapers
behind the German and Japanese lines.
   After the war TASS continued to develop its geographic reach to
encompass all corners of the globe. In 1972 the group was again reorganized
in order to take advantage of the new satellite technologies which were
becoming available. This in turn made many of the shortwave radio
transmitters obsolete. Despite this modernization, TASS continued to broadcast
on shortwave both from the Soviet Union as well as from allied nations such
as Cuba.
   The Cuban relay illustrates an interesting relationship between the USSR
and Cuba. Apparently, since soon after the 1972 reorganization, the TASS
shortwave relays have been used as a method of funding press services of
countries "friendly" to the USSR. As many of you know, TASS has for many
years shared the Cuban transmitter with Prensa Latina, the Cuban RTTY news
service (ie. 14901 kHz).
   Vladimir Prosverakov, the chief TASS engineer in North America, states,
"I was unaware of any TASS transmissions which involved radio broadcasts. We
have, for many years, exclusively relied on the Moscow-New York satellite link
to get our news out in North America."
   Prosverakov's statement is supported by the International Desk Editor at
the Cable News Network in Atlanta, Georgia. He states, "we don't monitor
shortwave. We always have gotten our TASS feed from the satellite." CNN is
not alone in this regard. The Associated Press and ABC News were both
contacted and neither of them realized that the TASS broadcasts had ceased.
They all get their TASS from satellite.
   So it appears that in the end, the TASS shortwave broadcasts have lost
much of their importance. Once the Soviet Union ceased to exist, TASS' prime
directive ceased to exist as well. Lenin's admonition to communicate between
the Communist International worldwide and to spread the ideology of
Communism no longer is an objective of the Russian Government.
   The final blow to TASS shortwave broadcasts, at least from Cuba, was
the Russian Government's decision to sever economic and political ties with the
island nation. As a result of that decision, all Russian foreign aid to Cuba was
withdrawn, including funding for the TASS/Prensa Latina relay.
   In the end, whether you agree or disagree with Soviet political ideology,
the "old standby" of TASS broadcasts will be missed. Much like the USIA/VOA
RTTY broadcasts, the TASS transmissions represented a tangible link with one
side of the Cold War. With the passing of that conflict, the world is seemingly
a less dangerous place.
   It was only 27 months ago that the falling of the Berlin Wall marked the
beginning of the end for the Communist world. Perhaps the demise of
shortwave TASS transmissions should rightly be called, "The Falling of the
Electronic Wall".

What Does It Mean?

   So what does the demise of TASS on shortwave mean for the utility
monitor? Of course you will not be able to get TASS, but the effects of the
Russian Government's decision may have broader implications.
   Since many of the TASS transmitter sites also serviced smaller, regional
RTTY services, the departure of the funding and maintenance personnel at
these sites will have a severe effect on your ability to receive radioteletype
signals.
   According to Radio Netherland's Media Network, BBC Monitoring has
reported that the Afghan News Agency has also gone off the air. It is widely
believed that many of the relay transmissions of non-Soviet RTTY services, like
the Afghan service, through Soviet transmitter sites will end. Indeed, Vadim
Polyakov, the Deputy Director of the TASS English Service, said that there will
be, "No radio transmissions at all from the Russian Republic [on RTTY]."
   If we understand Polyakov correctly, what are the implications?
Domestic Russian transmissions and re-transmissions of RTTY would seem to
be a thing of the past. That is clear.
   A more fundamental change in worldwide RTTY transmissions might
come from the cooperative agreements between TASS and other small regional
or national RTTY services. The most obvious example of this change can be
seen in the decrease in the number of transmissions and number of frequencies
of the Cuban RTTY service Prensa Latina. Before the January 1 decision, PL
could be heard on five different frequencies out of Cuba and two frequencies
out of Soviet relays. As a result, PL transmitted 52 hours of programming daily
around the world. After January 1 PL is only transmitting on one frequency
(16347.8 kHz) daily for 10 hours a day (1200-2200 UTC). Quite a comedown
from the heyday of the cold war!
     So what would be left? The TASS decision will likely have little effect
upon the massive Russian shipping fleet radio transmissions. Stations like
Moscow Radio, Odessa Radio, Sevastopol Radio, SA/AAMC Moscow, and
Vladivostok Radio will probably not be affected by the TASS decision.
      However, press agencies like IAN and TASS will not be found on
shortwave.
      It is hard to tell exactly what effect the Russian decision will have on
other press agencies, especially in the less developed nations of the world. We
simply don't know what role Soviet foreign aid played in supporting these
regional voices. One thing is clear, however. The withdrawal of Soviet aid for
international RTTY broadcasting will not increase the total number of broadcast
hours.
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      I hope you have enjoyed the news section from the February 1992
SPEEDX Utility World. If you like what you have read, and would like to see
more (like the 3 legal sized pages of PRIME utility frequencies logged during
the previous month from monitors all over the world) feel free to write for a
sample copy. Better yet, why not subscribe! The rates are competitive
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      73,

      Chuck Yarbrough, Editor
      SPEEDX Utility World


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