The
first radio broadcasting station installed in Turkey was a 7 kW longwave unit
that was inaugurated on May 6, 1927 under the callsign TAC. This new station was installed in Ankara, the
capital city, which is located almost in the center of their country, and it
operated on 166 kHz.
Their first mediumwave station hit
the air nearly a quarter century later, in January 1950. This new facility, under the callsign TAW,
was a high powered station, with 150 kW on 704 kHz.
Even to this day, in an era when
some countries have closed out all of their mediumwave stations, yet Turkey
still maintains a network of six high powered mediumwave transmitters which can
be heard nationwide, and beyond in neighboring countries. In addition, there are some 2,000 FM stations
on the air throughout both territories of their country, in Asia Minor and the
eastern edge of Europe.
In 1933, Turkey gave consideration
to the installation of a shortwave facility, for internal and external
coverage. This new shortwave station was
installed in Etimesgut, an outer suburban area west of the capital city
Ankara. Preliminary test broadcasts
began in May 1938 on 10710 kHz under the callsign TAO, and these were reported
by an international radio monitor living in Cuba.
This new shortwave station contained
two American made RCA transmitters each rated at 20 kW. The first transmitter TAO was noted with
additional test transmissions in July (1938); and preliminary test
transmissions from the second unit under the callsign TAS were heard in the
United States, also in the same month July.
This new shortwave station with its twin transmitters was hurried into
regular operation on November 10, due to the sudden and unexpected death of
their first national president, Kemal Ataturk.
In the early days of wireless
communication, Turkey was allocated the alphabetic sequence beginning with the
two letters TA to identify stations throughout their country. As in a lot of other countries back in the
early days of radio broadcasting, the Turkish authorities issued a separate
callsign for each transmitter, as well as for each different shortwave
frequency in use.
Thus all 26 possibilities for three
letter callsigns running from TAA to TAZ were already allocated for use in the
Turkish radio scene in the era immediately prior to the beginning of World War
2. However, the best known callsign in
use by TRT, the Turkish Radio & Television Corporation, would have to be
TAP, a major shortwave callsign.
An additional 100 kW Marconi transmitter was installed in this same
transmitter base at Etimesgut in 1950, together with an additional 20 kW unit
and a system of 6 directional antennas.
The two older and ailing 20 kW transmitters were still available, though
they were not always in service.
Twenty years later, the entire
station at Etimesgut was ailing, and its usefulness was faltering. A big new station was constructed at Cakirlar
in an open area a little north of the airport at Ankara. This station was taken into service in 1970,
and ultimately it contained a total of five shortwave transmitters, three at
250 kW and two at 500 kW, all made by BBC Brown Baveri in Switzerland.
Then 20 years later again, another
shortwave station was constructed, this time in a desert area near Emirler, a
few miles south of Ankara. With a total
of 5 Swiss made transmitters at 500 kW, this station was taken into service in
1992.
In summary:
The first international shortwave
station in Turkey, Etimesgut with its three transmitters at 20 kW and one at
100 kW was phased out and closed after more than 30 years of on air service
when the second station was constructed.
The location for this first station was in what is now an industrial
area.
The second international shortwave
station in Turkey, Cakirlar with its five high powered transmitters was phased
out and closed after a quarter century of on air service when the third station
was constructed. The location for this
second station was in an open area near the main city airport.
The third international shortwave
station in Turkey, Emirler with its 5 transmitters at 500 kW is still on the
air to this day. The station is heard
almost worldwide and it is on the air daily in 21 languages. Three tall self standing towers, each with its
own subsidiary buildings, can be seen on Google Earth at 39 30 07 05 N & 32 51 38 80 E.
TRT Turkey has always been a
reliable verifier of listener reception reports. In earlier times, their QSL cards listed all
of their radio broadcasting stations together with callsigns and power; in more
recent times their QSL cards have been picturesque cards in full color in
various different styles.
More on the radio scene in Turkey
next time.
(AWR-Wavescan/NWS 369)