* Canada: The low powered CFRX is back on the air again with 1 kW on 6070 kHz. This shortwave station was off the air for two years, while new equipment was obtained and installed. After it was re-activated, electronic problems occurred and the transmitter was shipped back to New York for refurbishing. It has since been re-delivered to Toronto and re-installed at the mediumwave location. The signal nowadays is quite weak in the United States due to a beam orientation for listeners in Canada. Signal fade in can be heard best around sunrise.
* South Pacific: In both New Zealand and Australia, low power FM & AM stations continue to multiply. David Ricquish in the New Zealand DX Times states that there are 430 LPFM stations actively on the air throughout New Zealand. In Australia, the Christian organization, Vision FM, is licensed for more than 400 low power AM stations.
* QSL Cards: In recent time, several QSL cards have brought very high prices on Ebay. A QSL card issued on Pitcairn Island for the amateur radio station that was in use for a short while with the relay of broadcast programming back to the United States in 1938 sold for $402. This card was printed with the two callsigns PITC and VR6A, and the letter Y was added in red ink, thus making the amateur callsign into VR6AY. Two QSL cards acknowledging the amateur station AC4NC in Tibet in 1940 sold for very high prices. One was bought at $3,800 and another at $3,000.
* China: And while we are talking about high prices, the New Zealand DX Times reports a very high price for postage on a QSL card back in the middle of last century. The card was from station XPRA and the postage was marked at $2,300,000.00. This exorbitant figure is of course in Chinese dollars, as they were at the time, and it reflects the impact of runaway inflation.
* North American Radio Magazines: Three radio magazines have undergone changes in recent time. Radio World for the professional is now re-designed in a more modern style, though the total number of pages is diminished.
WorldRadio for the amateur was bought by CQ Publications, which includes Popular Communications, and it is has been modernized, but is available only on the internet. (cq-amateur-radio.com)
Listening In from the Ontario DX Association is now no longer in print. However, the various columns and regular radio information is still available, via the internet. (odxa.on.ca)
* Dominican Republic: The 1 kW shortwave station, Radio Amanecer HIAJ in Santo Domingo is back on the air again and has been heard in many areas of the United States and Europe. Their operating channel is 6025 kHz and their beam orientation is approximately west.
* England: The American radio magazine, Popular Communications, reports that a woman in England has been taken to court for the non-payment of music fees. She has been operating a small radio station that broadcasts classical music into the horse barn to soothe restless horses.
* USA: In somewhat recent times, several shortwave stations in the United States have been closed, and new ones are opening. Here is a summary of these significant events:-
Stations closed
WHRI Indianapolis Indiana; 2 transmitters @ 100 kW moved to WHRA Greenbush, Maine & WHRI Cypress Creek, South Carolina
KAIJ Dallas Texas; facility demolished a while back
KTBN Salt Lake City Utah; 1 @ 100 kW removed and installed at Caribbean Beacon, Anguilla
KWHR Naalehu Hawaii; 1 transmitter at 100 kW transferred to T8WH Palau, South Pacific
WBOH Newport, North Carolina; removed from service, Oct 31, ailing 50 kW transmitter
WMLK Bethel Pennsylvania; 50 kW, currently off the air due to equipment damage
WJIE Upton Kentucky; all four transmitters still in place, but inactive
WWBS Macon Georgia; closed at death of owner some time ago, and apparently abandoned
WHRA Greenbush Maine; closed recently & dismantled, frequencies transferred to WHRI
New shortwave stations
KNLS Anchor Point, Alaska; additional 100 kW transmitter installed
Leap of Faith Radio, Lebanon Tennessee; may be already testing on air
WJHR Milton, Florida; It is planned that this station will operate only in the SSB mode, Single Side Band, and the project seems to be a transfer of a Construction Permit for an earlier shortwave station that was planned for Pensacola in Florida. We should also note that the projected callsign, WJHR, is already in use for two stations elsewhere, on AM & FM.
KIMF Pino New Mexico; seems to have been deleted before it was constructed
KTMI Albany & Lebanon, Oregon; They stated that they were ready to begin operations, but apparently they have been deleted.
(NWS 40 via Adrian Peterson AWR)
Showing posts with label American DX Report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American DX Report. Show all posts
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
American DX Report
Adventist World Radio - AWR Wavescan - DX Program
* USA: Currently, there is a concerted effort on the part of radio afficianados to rescue the high powered “Voice of America” international shortwave station located near Delano in California. If their efforts are successful, this station will not be demolished, but instead it will be preserved for possible use in the future, as coming political and international events may suggest. This VOA station near the American Pacific coast was constructed towards the end of World War 2, and over the years it has been modernized and updated as newer equipment has become available. The coverage area for VOA Delano has been the many countries on the Pacific rim and also Latin America. You can read about the rescue efforts that have already been implemented by checking their website at radionational.org and also by entering VOA Delano into Youtube.
* Canada: The 1 kW shortwave station located near Toronto in Ontario has recently been renovated and re-activated. With a new transmitter and a new antenna system, this station CFRX can be heard again on its familiar channel 6070 kHz, with a relay from the parent mediumwave station, CFRB on 1010 kHz. However, monitoring observations at our location in Indianapolis, 550 miles southwest of Toronto, indicate that the new antenna system is apparently oriented more for Canadian coverage rather than omni-directional coverage as it was in years gone by. The signal in Indiana is quite poor and unreliable, though it can be heard occasionally with a readable signal.
* New Guinea: Adventist World Radio has contributed half of the funds required for establishing an FM station at the Pacific Adventist University in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. Although the Seventh-day Adventist denomination has been on the air on multiple occasions from the radio stations throughout Papua New Guinea, this new 1 kW FM station is the first Adventist owned radio station in this country. The university campus is located at Boroko, on the edge of Port Moresby, and the target date for the initial test broadcasts from this new radio station has been some time during this month of November.
* India: Jose Jacob, VU2JOS in Hyderabad, reported on November 16 that AIR Port Blair was noted on 4765 kHz instead of the usual 4760 kHz, thus enabling listeners to tune in AIR Leh which was previously co-channel with Port Blair.
* Indonesia: The BBC Monitoring Service reports that there are sixty two radio stations on the air on the holiday island of Bali. Because of this congestion on the radio dial, the licensing authorities state that no channels are available for new radio stations on Bali.
* Namibia: BBC Monitoring also reports that NBC, The Namibia Broadcasting Commission is heavily in debt, to the amount of $250 million. The management of NBC in Windhoek is appealing to their government for financial aid in order to survive.
* Thailand: A report from Andy Sennitt via Jerry Berg states that the BBC relay station located in northern Thailand was taken off the air at the end of the first week in November due to local flooding. Some of the BBC programming was transferred to the Radio Netherlands relay station located on the island of Madagascar.
* Romania: According to Alokesh Gupta in India via Cumbre DX, Romania issued a new postage stamp and also a new coin on November 1 to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of radio broadcasting in their country.
*Australia: A report in the October issue of the Australian DX News states that HCJB Australia has received approval to construct a new shortwave station on an adjoining property at Kununurra at the top of Western Australia. It is intended that all of the transmission facilities located on the original property will ultimately be transferred to the adjacent new location.
* Australia: The same issue of ADXN also states that the transmitter facilities of Radio Netherlands at Flevo in Holland are in the process of being dismantled, though it is not known yet as to what will happen to all of this equipment and the transmitter building.
* USA: And now an interesting old item of news as our final item in this edition of American DX Report; and we take you to Chicago Illinois, on the edge of the Great Lakes. Back three quarters of a century ago, the mediumwave station WLS in Chicago reported that they received a total of 1,051,041 letters from listeners in the year 1934.
(Source: Dr. Adrian M. Peterson/Adventist World Radio
DX Editor Box 29235
adrian@awr.org
Indianapolis, Indiana 46229 USA
(National Online Project)
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
American DX Report
As the first item in our DX Report from America, we quote this commentary from the latest edition of the New Zealand DX Times. It was written by David Ricquish and it is presented under the title, “Winds of Change”.
The winds of change continue to buffet our world of radio. Last month, Martin Hadlow noted an article in “The Economist” magazine that reported an upturn in shortwave listening in Africa and India, together with a report that the BBC plans to upgrade their shortwave transmitter facility on Ascension Island which will soon be powered by a wind farm.
North American shortwave broadcasters have decided to conduct research into current shortwave listening patterns in North America, digital HD radio receivers are being removed from radio shop inventories in the United States, and some American AM mediumwave stations with IBOC capability are choosing to switch off due to interference problems and the lack of listeners with IBOC receivers.
At the same time, Mexico has approved digital HD facilities for many of its border mediumwave stations, and Australian and New Zealand mediumwave and FM networks appear to be slow in adopting digital radio systems, due mainly to tight economic conditions and no apparent benefit from the new digital channels. Austria still plans to close down its shortwave broadcasts by the end of the year, and Radio Singapore International has just gone silent on shortwave.
In China, greater prosperity and the availability of low cost radio receivers is leading to an explosive growth of a new hobby for them, DXing. Chinese DXers are now actively reporting local radio stations on shortwave, mediumwave and FM, and the stations are responding with detailed confirmations and QSL cards. As most of this new activity occurs within the bounds of China and the Chinese language, it is hard to gauge how big the new phenomenon really is, but it does have a potential for introducing millions of new listeners and DXers to the world of international radio broadcasting. Already, western shortwave stations are noting a greater flow of reception reports from inside China, despite the current jamming of a wide range of foreign broadcasts.
It is also easy to underestimate the fascination that shortwave radio continues to hold for listeners in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Although advancing technology jumping enables many to hear the new commercial and community FM signals on mobile phones, yet mediumwave and shortwave still continue to provide the major radio infrastructure for national radio coverage, and this procedure will continue to do so for the coming decades. International broadcasters still support local listener clubs in Southern Asia and thousands of new local FM community stations are planned across India. And again, shortwave listening and DXing in several counties of Asia is far more popular than we sometimes realize.
* USA: A series of recent radio developments in the Americas includes the following: The installation of a 100 kW transmitter at WHRI Cypress Creek, transferred from Noblesville Indianapolis, is complete and it is now in regular service. Shortwave station KAIJ in Texas is now off the air.
The new shortwave KTMI in Oregon is expected on air some time quite soon. Test broadcasts have been noted from the revived shortwave WRNO in New Orleans. There are no signs that the shortwave stations WJCR-WJIE in Kentucky and WWBS in Georgia will be re-activated. Station KTBN in Utah has been dismantled and the equipment is under installation on the island of Anguilla to augment the Caribbean Beacon. Both WTJC 5920 kHz and WTJC are on the air, though WTJC is noted on 9365 kHz instead of 9370 kHz. Station WMLK seems to be still off the air.
* CANADA: The latest bulletin from Sheldon Harvey and his “Radio High Frequency Internet Newsletter” features several items of interest regarding the lonely Pacific island, Pitcairn, some of which we will present in an upcoming edition of our DX program, “Wavescan”. This newsletter also presents items of information on two large communication stations, the aviation Gander Radio in Newfoundland, and the Haiku Naval Station in Hawaii. You can access Sheldon Harvey’s bulletin at www.radiohf.ca .
* ZIMBABWE: According to the latest edition of the American radio magazine, “Popular Communications”, the African country of Zimbabwe has banned the usage of the popular wind-up radios. Because batteries for portable radio receivers are almost unobtainable in Zimbabwe, the wind-up radios are used widely. Those who own a wind-up radio are required to hand them over to government authorities.
* KIRIBATI: According to a report from BBC Monitoring, quoting a news item from Radio Australia, the only mediumwave transmitter in their country is currently off the air, due to a transmitter fault and lack of funding. This mediumwave unit is listed with 10 kW on the capital city atoll, Tarawa. However, Radio Australia states that their FM service with 100 watts on 99.0 MHz is still on the air.
* STATISTICS & OTHER INTERESTING INFORMATION:
The D-Day invasion of Europe at Normandy in France required the usage of 90,000 radio transmitters. (The Signal Corps: The Outcome)
Periodically, earth scientists require the addition of a leap second to match measured time with the rotation of the Earth. Since June 30, 1972 a total of twenty three leap seconds have been added to Earth clock, which means that the Earth has been slowing down in its rotations almost half a minute in the past thirty six years. Add to this, that the opposite side of the Earth bounced about six feet during the massive Indonesian earthquake a few years ago, and the fact that Mt Everest is growing higher at the rate of ½ inch per year, we really are in for an interesting future!
Radio Heritage in New Zealand, at radiohertiatge.net, now reports more than two million hits.New Zealand has more than 700 AM & FM stations, for a population of less than five million.There are 253 radio stations on the island of Madagascar.
The world wide audience to American radio and television programming, including VOA, RFE/RL and all of the other government services, is now estimated at 175 million, an increase of 20 million. There are 20,808 AM & FM stations in the United States.
*BANGLADESH: The Spring edition of “Radio News Letter” from Thompson Multimedia in Europe informs us that the superpower mediumwave transmitter under installation at Dhamrai is expected to be inaugurated later this year. This 1 MW unit replaces a 36 year old unit at the same location. It is planned that this single transmitter will give direct coverage to all of Bangladesh, and that it will provide a program feed to a network of new local stations, as well as a new 100 kW shortwave transmitter.
* USA: The very popular artist, Thomas Kinkade, is well known throughout the United States for his colorful paintings that depict nostalgic, old world, country scenes. Interestingly, in the year 1998, Thomas Kinkade painted a lighthouse that also depicted a radio station. The lighthouse is known as The South East Lighthouse on Block Island, just off the continental east coast of New Jersey. Two red & white radio towers are shown in this artistic painting in the Kinkade picture book, together with the radio shack, quite close to the main lighthouse building. The style of the radio station would suggest that it was in use for communication purposes.
(Source: Adrian Peterson/Wavescan)
The winds of change continue to buffet our world of radio. Last month, Martin Hadlow noted an article in “The Economist” magazine that reported an upturn in shortwave listening in Africa and India, together with a report that the BBC plans to upgrade their shortwave transmitter facility on Ascension Island which will soon be powered by a wind farm.
North American shortwave broadcasters have decided to conduct research into current shortwave listening patterns in North America, digital HD radio receivers are being removed from radio shop inventories in the United States, and some American AM mediumwave stations with IBOC capability are choosing to switch off due to interference problems and the lack of listeners with IBOC receivers.
At the same time, Mexico has approved digital HD facilities for many of its border mediumwave stations, and Australian and New Zealand mediumwave and FM networks appear to be slow in adopting digital radio systems, due mainly to tight economic conditions and no apparent benefit from the new digital channels. Austria still plans to close down its shortwave broadcasts by the end of the year, and Radio Singapore International has just gone silent on shortwave.
In China, greater prosperity and the availability of low cost radio receivers is leading to an explosive growth of a new hobby for them, DXing. Chinese DXers are now actively reporting local radio stations on shortwave, mediumwave and FM, and the stations are responding with detailed confirmations and QSL cards. As most of this new activity occurs within the bounds of China and the Chinese language, it is hard to gauge how big the new phenomenon really is, but it does have a potential for introducing millions of new listeners and DXers to the world of international radio broadcasting. Already, western shortwave stations are noting a greater flow of reception reports from inside China, despite the current jamming of a wide range of foreign broadcasts.
It is also easy to underestimate the fascination that shortwave radio continues to hold for listeners in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Although advancing technology jumping enables many to hear the new commercial and community FM signals on mobile phones, yet mediumwave and shortwave still continue to provide the major radio infrastructure for national radio coverage, and this procedure will continue to do so for the coming decades. International broadcasters still support local listener clubs in Southern Asia and thousands of new local FM community stations are planned across India. And again, shortwave listening and DXing in several counties of Asia is far more popular than we sometimes realize.
* USA: A series of recent radio developments in the Americas includes the following: The installation of a 100 kW transmitter at WHRI Cypress Creek, transferred from Noblesville Indianapolis, is complete and it is now in regular service. Shortwave station KAIJ in Texas is now off the air.
The new shortwave KTMI in Oregon is expected on air some time quite soon. Test broadcasts have been noted from the revived shortwave WRNO in New Orleans. There are no signs that the shortwave stations WJCR-WJIE in Kentucky and WWBS in Georgia will be re-activated. Station KTBN in Utah has been dismantled and the equipment is under installation on the island of Anguilla to augment the Caribbean Beacon. Both WTJC 5920 kHz and WTJC are on the air, though WTJC is noted on 9365 kHz instead of 9370 kHz. Station WMLK seems to be still off the air.
* CANADA: The latest bulletin from Sheldon Harvey and his “Radio High Frequency Internet Newsletter” features several items of interest regarding the lonely Pacific island, Pitcairn, some of which we will present in an upcoming edition of our DX program, “Wavescan”. This newsletter also presents items of information on two large communication stations, the aviation Gander Radio in Newfoundland, and the Haiku Naval Station in Hawaii. You can access Sheldon Harvey’s bulletin at www.radiohf.ca .
* ZIMBABWE: According to the latest edition of the American radio magazine, “Popular Communications”, the African country of Zimbabwe has banned the usage of the popular wind-up radios. Because batteries for portable radio receivers are almost unobtainable in Zimbabwe, the wind-up radios are used widely. Those who own a wind-up radio are required to hand them over to government authorities.
* KIRIBATI: According to a report from BBC Monitoring, quoting a news item from Radio Australia, the only mediumwave transmitter in their country is currently off the air, due to a transmitter fault and lack of funding. This mediumwave unit is listed with 10 kW on the capital city atoll, Tarawa. However, Radio Australia states that their FM service with 100 watts on 99.0 MHz is still on the air.
* STATISTICS & OTHER INTERESTING INFORMATION:
The D-Day invasion of Europe at Normandy in France required the usage of 90,000 radio transmitters. (The Signal Corps: The Outcome)
Periodically, earth scientists require the addition of a leap second to match measured time with the rotation of the Earth. Since June 30, 1972 a total of twenty three leap seconds have been added to Earth clock, which means that the Earth has been slowing down in its rotations almost half a minute in the past thirty six years. Add to this, that the opposite side of the Earth bounced about six feet during the massive Indonesian earthquake a few years ago, and the fact that Mt Everest is growing higher at the rate of ½ inch per year, we really are in for an interesting future!
Radio Heritage in New Zealand, at radiohertiatge.net, now reports more than two million hits.New Zealand has more than 700 AM & FM stations, for a population of less than five million.There are 253 radio stations on the island of Madagascar.
The world wide audience to American radio and television programming, including VOA, RFE/RL and all of the other government services, is now estimated at 175 million, an increase of 20 million. There are 20,808 AM & FM stations in the United States.
*BANGLADESH: The Spring edition of “Radio News Letter” from Thompson Multimedia in Europe informs us that the superpower mediumwave transmitter under installation at Dhamrai is expected to be inaugurated later this year. This 1 MW unit replaces a 36 year old unit at the same location. It is planned that this single transmitter will give direct coverage to all of Bangladesh, and that it will provide a program feed to a network of new local stations, as well as a new 100 kW shortwave transmitter.
* USA: The very popular artist, Thomas Kinkade, is well known throughout the United States for his colorful paintings that depict nostalgic, old world, country scenes. Interestingly, in the year 1998, Thomas Kinkade painted a lighthouse that also depicted a radio station. The lighthouse is known as The South East Lighthouse on Block Island, just off the continental east coast of New Jersey. Two red & white radio towers are shown in this artistic painting in the Kinkade picture book, together with the radio shack, quite close to the main lighthouse building. The style of the radio station would suggest that it was in use for communication purposes.
(Source: Adrian Peterson/Wavescan)
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