My AM Archive: April 2015

 "I SIT under a sky which is still very blue in the evening dark, complete with a bright, crescent moon.
It is 20:02 UTC and tuned to 954 kHz Medium Wave..."

April 2015 : Medium Wave

• [Wednesday] 22 April [2015]: 2002 UTC: 954 kHz: CRo Plus Brno, Czech Republic.  Fair reception. 200 kW via Brno, Czech Republic.
  Male and female speech, broadcast ident, Male speech.
  Logged to 2016 UTC.
• 22 April: 2034 UTC: 954 kHz: Onda Cera Radio  Live commentary of football.
  20 kW via Madrid (Spain).
  Male and female commentators, speech includes 'Champions La Liga' from the female; 'Sergio Ramos' from the male.
  Fair reception.
  Logged to 2043 UTC.

[22 April: 2053 UTC: 972 kHz. Unconfirmed log of Spain broadcasting via Lugo, north Spain]

• 22 April: 2116 UTC: 981 kHz: Radio Algerie  French language speech, mix of speech and music.
  Radio Algerie, Chaine 2.
• 22 April: 2125 UTC: 990 kHz: SER Bilbao.  Male speech in the Spanish language. Time check for 2130 UTC.
  10 kW via Monte Archanda (Bilbao) Spain.
• 22 April: 2136 UTC: 999 kHz: RAI Radio 1  Female and male voices speaking in RAI Radio 1.
  Co- Channel interference.
  50 kW via Volpiano, TO (Turin) Italy.

The RAI Radio 1 logo.

For the above posts:

Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). Transmission power in watts or kiloWatts (kW). Logs transcribed from the original notes.

Receiver used: Roberts R881.

The previous post in this thread, My AM Archive: February 2015, can be found here.

Thank you for visiting Reporting From The Fox Tower!

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My AM Archive: February 2015

 BROADCASTS on Medium Wave from the UK and Europe, heard Monday, 23 February, 2015.

The previous post in this thread, My AM Archive: December 2014, can be found here.

Housekeeping notes: Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). Transmission power in watts or kiloWatts (kW). Logs transcribed from the original notes.

Receiver used: Roberts R881.

February 2015 : Medium Wave

• [Monday] 23 February [2015]: 2106 UTC: 900 kHz: [Presumed] Radio Popular / Herri Irratia  Speech in the Spanish language - British DX Club shows Bilbao on this frequency, plus co-channel interference.
  Fair to poor reception.
  Logged to 2124 UTC.
• 23 February: 2134 UTC: 909 kHz: BBC Radio Five Live  'The Tuffers and Vaughany Cricket Show' with Phil Tufnell, Michael Vaughan and Mark Chapman. Topic of conversation is the current Cricket World Cup - England have recorded their first win of this tournament over Scotland.
  The TMS [Test Match Special] team are based in Canberra at the moment.
  Scotland's next match is against Afghanistan. The Afghan team coach [Andy Moles] is interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live.
  Excellent to fair reception. Up to 200 kW via Moorside Edge, West Yorkshire.
  Logged to 2148 UTC.
• 23 February: 2213 UTC: 945 kHz: Smooth Radio  Music: 'You're The Best Thing' The Style Council; Berlin 'Take My Breath Away'.
  Smooth Radio via Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex (700 watts) [Possible co-channel broadcast from Gold, Quarndon, Derby - 200 watts]. Poor to fair reception. Presumed ID for Smooth Radio.
  Music: The Pretenders 'I'll Stand By You'. Bee Gees 'How Deep Is Your Love'; REM 'Everybody Hurts'.
  Logged to 2236 UTC.
• 23 February: 2243 UTC: 954 kHz: CRo Plus  Speech carrying well on this frequency - Female lead voice, with male and female voices (Czech language).
  200 kW via Brno, Czech Republic.
  Logged to 2300 UTC.

Promotional card from the Czech Republic. www.czechtrails.com

Thank you for visiting Reporting From The Fox Tower!

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An evening by the radio.

Wednesday 22 April 2015 : I sat in the bedroom of my home, under a sky which was still very blue in the evening dark, complete with a bright crescent moon. At 20:02 UTC, I was tuned to 954 kHz Medium Wave, ready to spend a couple of hours listening to whatever I would hear. Over the years I have collected much information about the broadcasts I could have heard, many frequencies were recognisable, though after a long day, there were moments of brain fade, so where I could not conclusively find the information I required in my own sources, I found information online which concurred with my notes. Here are the broadcasts I heard on that Wednesday evening - Times are UTC (GMT); Frequencies are kHz (kiloHertz) :

• 20:02 UTC, 954 kHz : CRo Plus, Male and female speech, with jingles, stabs and breaks. Czech language. Moderate reception via Brno, Czech Republic, 200 kW (kiloWatt) transmission. To 2016 UTC.
• 2034 UTC, 954 kHz : Onda Cero Radio, Live commentary of football. Spanish language. Onda Cero broadcasts from Madrid, Spain, 20 kW. Moderate reception. To 2043 UTC.
• 2053 UTC, 972 kHz : Radio Nacional, Spanish language, affected by propagation. Football commentary. Transmission from Lugo, Spain. To 2116 UTC.
• 2116 UTC, 981 kHz  - I was torn an confused. I was unsure of my languages and nations. My sources were contradictory; The old said Algiers - The language I could hear was French and the Algerians do speak French, don't they? The new said Czech Republic. The broadcast was a mix of speech and music, which to my ear was French. I heard Radio Algerie Chaine 2, which broadcasts around 300 to 600 kW. To 2125 UTC.
• 2125 UTC, 990 kHz : Cadena SER, Speech from two males in the Spanish language. Time pips at 2130 UTC. Cadena SER via Monte Archanda, Bilbao, Spain, 10 kW. To 2136 UTC.
• 2136 UTC, 999 kHz : Rai Radio 1, Female and male voices, live from Turin, Italy. Female is the dominant speaker.Propagation playing its part in reception. Relay of the Rai Radio 1 FM service via Volpiano, Torino (Turin). 50 kW. To 2146 UTC.

Sleep was calling me by that point, so at 2146 UTC (10:46pm BST), I signed off on 999 kHz. I enjoyed the evening listening to that busy band.

Goodnight.

On the Radio : February 2015

I listened to the Medium wave band for a couple of hours, during the evening of Monday 23 February. Here is what I heard. Times in UTC (GMT), frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz). The station names contain a link to their website.

• 2106 UTC, 900 kHz, Radio Popular / Herri Irratia, Spanish language broadcast from Bilbao, Spain. Speech and music, including Whitney Houston 'The Greatest Love Of All'. Moderate reception. To 2124 UTC.
• 2134 UTC, 909 kHz, BBC Radio Five Live, 'The Tuffers & Vaughany Cricket Show' with Phil Tuffnell, Michael Vaughan and Mark Chapman. Topic of conversation is the current Cricket World Cup - England recorded their first win of the tournament over Scotland. The Test Match Special team are based in Canberra. Scotland's next match was against Afghanistan; The Afghan team coach - An Englishman - is interviewed. This transmission is up to 200 kiloWatts - The highest power broadcast is from Moorside Edge, West Yorkshire. Moderate reception. To 2148 UTC.
• 2213 UTC, 945 kHz, Smooth Radio, Music: The Style Council 'You're The Best Thing'; Berlin 'Take My Breath Away'. Varying levels of reception. ID? Soul track. The Pretenders 'I'll Stand By You'; Bee Gees 'How Deep Is Your Love'; REM 'Everybody Hurts'. Moderate reception: This transmission is from Sussex - The Bexhill transmitter, 700 Watts. To 2236 UTC.
• 2243 UTC, 954 kHz, CRo Plus, Czech language broadcast from Brno, Czech Republic. Female speech, with other male and female voices. 200 kiloWatt transmission. To 2300 UTC.

Whilst visiting the websites for the broadcasts above, the website for CRo Plus, operated by Czech Radio, based in Prague (Czech Republic), has an English language portal, which can be accessed here.

I also 'screen grabbed' the frequencies page from the website, which has a Google Street View image of the transmission site in the Czech Republic, which I heard here in the UK. Yes, I am an anorak. Here is the image:

Enjoy.