Medium Wave, September 2017

MANY say Medium Wave is becoming increasingly redundant, which may be true, as a number of broadcasters switch off their AM transmitters in favour of FM, DAB and online. For those that are remaining, however, reception conditions become favourable, as the number of co-channel broadcasts are reduced and broadcasts can cover greater distances, especially after dark.

I am pleased to bring you logs of an evening spent listening to the Medium Wave band in September. I spent the evening of Thursday 21 September listening to the Roberts R881 and here is what was heard [Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz), transmission powers in watts and kiloWatts (kW)].

• 21 September: 1826 UTC: 1260 kHz: Smooth Radio, UK. Strong to moderate reception. Either 1.6 kW via Mangotsfield for Bristol & Bath, or via Farndon for Wrexham and Deeside. Music: Four Tops 'I'll Be There', ad break: Co-op Food, patio doors, PPI 'The Claims Guys'. Music: Rod Stewart 'You're In My Heart', ID 'Smooth Century on Smooth Radio', music: 'You Might Need Somebody'; Bob Seger 'We've Got Tonight'. Chris Skinner is the host. Ad break: Crimestoppers, Local Heroes [British Gas], Thompson Cruises, Moody Blues / Justin Hayward on tour. Music: Daniel Bedingfield 'If You're Not The One'. To 1850 UTC.
• 21 September: 1857 UTC: 1269 kHz: COPE, Spain. Good to poor reception. Either 10 kW via Ciudad Real, or 5 kW via Badajoz / Zamora. Birdsong...? Speech, in the Spanish language. Predominantly male speech, with some female speech. To 1909 UTC.
• 21 September: 1918 UTC: 1278 kHz: Pulse 2, UK. Strong to moderate reception, 430 watts via Tyersal Lane, Bradford, West Yorkshire. Music: Lionel Richie 'Three Times A Lady', Billy Joel 'Uptown Girl'. ID: 'Greatest Hits of all time...' Ad break: SCS sofa, £99 summer offer on Dacia Sandro at Bristol Street Motors, Bradford. ID: 'Pulse 2'. Music: Eric Carmen 'Hungry Eyes', ID 'Across West Yorkshire, this is Pulse 2'. Music: Johnny Nash 'I Can See Clearly Now', Adele 'Hello'. To 1931 UTC.

• 21 September: 1949 UTC: 1287 kHz: SER, Spain. Moderate reception, either 10 kW via Radio Lugo, 5 kW via Radio Lleida or 2 kW via Radio Castilla, Burgos, Ctra Madrid. Spanish speech, football commentary? Male speech, anchor in studio linking to reporters, music, male speech. Time pips at 20 UTC, male speech. To 2002 UTC.
• 21 September: 2005 UTC: 1296 kHz: Radio XL, UK. Strong to good reception, 10 kW via Langley Mill B, Birmingham. ID for Radio XL, ad for dealer of Mercedes-Benz spare parts, travel - Radio XL weather sponsored by Southall Travel. ID, music. ID: 'On 1296, this is Radio XL'. Ad: Southall Travel, Rainbow casino, programme trailers. Music. Male speech with contact telephone number: 0121 753 1296. ID: 'Birmingham's only 24 hour Asian station, this is Radio XL'. Ad break: Tile store. ID: 'Across the Midlands, this is Radio XL', music. To 2024 UTC.

The evening concluded by tuning to 1305 kHz, where a number of broadcasts were audible on the channel; Strongest seemed to be Smooth Radio and Premier Christian Radio. I felt I could not logically separate and log these broadcasts, but for the purpose of these footnotes, Smooth Radio on 1305 kHz serves South Wales (Christchurch, Newport, 200 watts); Premier Christian Radio serves South and North London, 500 watts.

I also tuned to 1314 kHz, where inaudible broadcasts were present... Better luck next time. I brought the evening to a close at 2050 UTC, on the frequency of 1314 kHz.

📻

My DX Archive: October 1992

MAY I begin by saying a big 'Thank you!' to all who viewed my previous DX Archive post, which took us back to the Summer of 1992. One hundred views in one week is a great achievement. Thank you.

Continuing the visit to my DX Archive, I present a very productive month: October 1992. As with the previous post, here are the logs from that time, with QSL verifications and images. The broadcasts were received on a Hitachi TRK-5854 E.
[Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz), MegaHertz (MHz) and/or metrebands (m). Logs transcribed from the original notes.]

• 20 October [1992]: 1832 UTC: 6045 kHz / 6195 kHz (49m): BBC World Service "Discovery"
• 20 October: 1844 UTC: 9525 kHz: Polish Radio (Warsaw) "Cookery programme followed by News Headlines from the Newsdesk, Weather -9°c in East to 13°c in West".
• 20 October: 1858 UTC: 9700 - 9760 kHz: Voice of America "Science Programme. News at 19UTC".
• 20 October: 1914 UTC: 11630 kHz: Radio Moscow World Service "Press Reviews - 'Update' show".
• 20 October: 1931 UTC: 11940 kHz: Radio Romania International "Youth Programming".
• 20 October: 2011 UTC: 13 MHz / 25m: Radio Canada International "Broadcasting to Canadian Peace-keeping forces in Croatia, Somalia & Cyprus".

WCSN QSL verification, March 1993

• 20 October: 2027 UTC: 13770 kHz: Christian Science Monitor (WCSN, Scotts Corner, Maine, USA) "Monitor News on APR (American Public Radio)".
• 20 October: 2053 UTC: 13650 kHz: Radio Canada International "Spectrum".
• 20 October: 2109 UTC: 15205 kHz: Voice of America "News (World Report)".
• 20 October: 2116 UTC: 13770 kHz // 15665 kHz: World Service of The Christian Science Monitor "Curtain Call".
• 20 October: 2129 UTC: 15 MHz: Deutsche Welle ID : "Caribbean Relay Station - Antigua".
• 20 October: 2140 UTC: 15150 kHz: Radio Canada International English to Africa: "Spectrum".

• 20 October: 2144 UTC: 15590 kHz: BBC World Service "British News: The BBC, Neil Kinnock".
• 20 October: 2148 UTC: 15270 kHz: HCJB, Quito, South America "Featuring a programme from a Broadcast Center, Texas, USA: 'Mountain Meditation'."
• 20 October: 2209 UTC: 15150 kHz: Radio Canada International 'CBC News'.
• 27 October: 2130 UTC: 1179 kHz MW Radio Sweden : News with Alan Pryke, weather: -17°c in the far north to +2°c in Stockholm. "60° Degrees North": News & Current Affairs show: Yugoslav Prisoners of war in Sweden. Ikea purchases Habitat (Retail chain). "Mediawatch" segment: European DX Council meet in Finland. News headlines at 22 UTC, "60° Degrees North" continues with a review of current publications, to programme close at 2230 UTC.

That concludes this visit to my DX Archive - I do hope you enjoyed reading this selection of logs, originally broadcast almost twenty five years ago. Until next time, 73s and Good DX!

📻

My DX Archive: Summer 1992

WELCOME to the second visit to My DX Archive - Read the first post here. Following the February 1992 logs in that previous post, this post looks at logs from July, August and September 1992, including some QSL verifications from those early years. Enjoy.
[Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz), MegaHertz (MHz) and/or metrebands (m). Logs transcribed from the original notes.]

• 11 July [1992]: 1905 - 1921 UTC: 49m / 6 MHz : Radio Australia - Melbourne "News headlines, followed by 'Sports Roundup', Aussie rules football, Tasmanian football, rugby results, New South Wales league results, Barcelona Olympics - Yugoslavian athletes, Basketball - Republic of China, general sports news from China.
• 12 July: 1230 - 1330 UTC: 5955 kHz / 49m band: Radio Netherlands (International) "Happy Station" Music from Acker Bilk, Tom Meyer (host) and Pete Myers (co-host) talk of Pete's broken leg. Terry Cooper of Scunthorpe wrote to Pete. Celebrity birthdays. Tom Meyer is leaving "Happy Station".
• 12 July: 1900 UTC: 5 MHz - 6 MHz / 49m band: Radio Czechoslovakia "(Broadcasting in Spanish)"
• 12 July: 1923 UTC: 6 MHz / 49m band: Voice of America "Newsline"
• 12 July: 1937 UTC: 6 MHz / 49m band: Polish Radio - Warsaw "Music request programme".
• 12 July: 2000 UTC: 6 MHz / 49m band: BBC World Service - London

August 1992

• 5 August: 1925 UTC: 6 MHz: BBC World Service "Multitrack 2 featuring Genesis: Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford"
• 5 August: 20 UTC: 9 MHz: Radio Exterior de España "Madrid 28080 Spain"
• 5 August: 21 UTC: 15665 kHz: Christian Science Monitor "WCSN, Scotts Corners, Maine, USA"
• 5 August: 2151 UTC: 19m band: KOL Israel Radio, Jerusalem "Israel, The Vatican, Jews & Catholics"
• 5 August: 2207 UTC: 12 MHz: Radio Sofia, Bulgaria "News & Aspects in co-operation re: Business course"

Radio Sofia QSL, 1992

September 1992

• 15 September: 1842 UTC: 5 MHz / 49m band: Radio Moscow "Africa As We See It (Soccer results!) Radio Moscow News at 8pm [19 UTC]."
• 15 September: 1905 UTC: 6045 kHz: BBC World Service "Outlook. News; A Captain of the Canadian Army discusses his new book"
• 15 September: 2029 UTC: 9920 kHz: Radio Beijing "Current Affairs".
• 15 September: 21 UTC: 15000 kHz: Voice of America "World Report"
• 15 September: 2130 UTC: 15610 kHz: WCSN (Christian Science Monitor)
• 15 September: 2134 UTC: 17-18 MHz: Radio Havana Cuba "DXers Unlimited".

Radio Havana Cuba QSL, September 1992

That concludes the logs from the Summer of 1992. Until the next time, good DX!

📻

Introducing Lexi.

LEXI Downie at work . . .

📷

. . . and at play

🐦