My AM Archive: October 2015

 AUTUMN 2015 brings these memories of Medium Wave radio broadcasts, heard in the Eden Valley, Cumbria, England.

The previous post in this thread, My AM Archive: August 2015, 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.

October 2015 : Medium Wave

• [Tuesday] 20 October [2015]: 1817 UTC: 531 kHz: Jil FM [Algeria]  Music: Choral singing, speech by female. Music and speech interchanging. French language speech.
  Fair to poor reception.
  Music: The Beatles 'The Long And Winding Road' ['Signal at best level at this point']; Music: Dionne Warwick 'Walk On By'.
  Transmission site: F'Kirina [Algeria] 600 kW.
  Logged to 1840 UTC.

Logo for Kossuth Radio, Budapest, Hungary.

• 20 October: 1848 UTC: 540 kHz: Kossuth Radio [Hungary]  Speech from male and female, ident, continuation of speech. Strong signal from MR1 Kossuth Radio, broadcasting in the Hungarian language, from Hungary. Reception fading.
  Good to poor reception.
  Top of the hour idents.
  MR1 Kossuth Radio via Solt [Hungary] 2 MW (2 MegaWatts!).
  Logged to 1900 UTC.
• 20 October: 1914 UTC: 549 kHz: UR1 Pershiy kanal [Ukraine]  Speech, followed by music: Eiffel 65 'Blue (Da Ba Dee)'. Sports programme? Weaker signal. Male speech.
  Fair reception; 550 kW via Mykolaiv/Luch [Ukraine].
  Logged to 1923 UTC.
• 20 October: 1925 UTC: 549 kHz: Spirit Radio [Ireland]  Pop / rock song, link by female into Spirit Radio ID, segue into next song.
  Good to poor reception; English language via Carrickroe transmission site, Co Donegal. 11 / 25 kW.
  Music at 1934 UTC; Male speech at 1935 UTC. Contact details for Co Wicklow, Republic of Ireland. Programme: Evenings with Olga Kaye.
  Logged to 1945 UTC.
• 20 October: 1951 UTC: 549 kHz: Deutschlandfunk [Germany]  Long piano piece, applause, male speech in German language.
  Fair to poor reception via Thurnau [Germany] 100 kW.
  Programme: 'Jazz Live' Vijay Iyer.
  Logged to 20:02 UTC.
• 20 October: 2034 UTC: 576 kHz: RNE Radio 5 [Spain]  Barely audible, but clear, Spanish, male speech.
  Poor reception via Barcelona [Spain] 100 kW.
  Logged to 2041 UTC.
• 20 October: 2046 UTC: 585 kHz: BBC Radio Scotland  Sport: Interview with Alan Stubbs, speaking about the standard of refereeing in football; Discussion also included fourth officials and linesmen - Sudden interjection by music! Male host then apologises for interruption by music, returning to football discussion, following tonight's match which was Hibernian FC v Falkirk FC. Programme: 'SportSound'.
  Excellent to fair reception; 2 kW via Dumfries, Scotland.
  10pm [UK time] news headlines: Steelworks in Motherwell & Clyde to be mothballed. Sport & weather updates.
  Programme: 'Another Country' with Ricky Ross: Owen Bradley: The Nashville Sound. Country music show, playing Patsy Cline 'Walking After Midnight' followed by 'Night Train To Memphis'.
  Logged to 2100 UTC.

Google Maps image of the Dumfries transmission site.

• 20 October: 21:11 UTC: 603 kHz: BBC Radio 4  'The World Tonight' Report regarding China's [President] Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK, meeting the Royal Family.
  Excellent to good reception; 2 kW via Wrekenton (Newcastle-Upon-Tyne).
  Logged to 2121 UTC.
• 20 October: 2127 UTC: 603 kHz: France Info  Strong, clear speech from France Info! Male speech with regards to Bashar Assad, the leader of war-torn Syria. Speech from female, male, idents and 'stabs'.
  Excellent to fair reception; 300 kW via Tramoyes, Lyon, France.
  Preview of the new 'Star Wars' movie to be released! Football: Champions League football update.
  [Broadcast in French language]
  Logged to 2144 UTC.
• 20 October: 2157 UTC: 621 kHz: RTBF International [Belgium]  Very faint music, very faint speech, female reading frequencies in kiloHertz. Music. Off air at 2200 UTC.
  Fair reception; 300 kW via Wavre, Belgium.
  Logged to 2200 UTC.
• 20 October: 2207 UTC: 630 kHz: BBC Three Counties Radio  Music: Petula Clark 'Downtown'. Male speech, man on telephone. Female speech. Music: The Corrs 'What Can I Do' (Clear audio).
  Poor reception.
  Male speech, female speech, phone call. Music: 'My Boy Lollipop'. Male speech.
  Transmission site: Lewsey Farm, Luton. 200 kW.
  Logged to 2235 UTC.

Thank you for visiting Reporting From The Fox Tower!

📻

6 Nations 2017: The Final Results

THIS year's RBS Six Nations Championship is complete - So here are the round-by-round results, with dates and venues:

Round 1:
Saturday 4 February: Scotland 27 - Ireland 22  (Murrayfield, Edinburgh)
Saturday 4 February: England 19 - France 16  (Twickenham, London)
Sunday 5 February: Italy 7 - Wales 33  (Stadio Olimpico, Rome)

Round 2:
Saturday 11 February: Italy 10 - Ireland 63  (Stadio Olimpico)
Saturday 11 February: Wales 16 - England 21  (Principality Stadium, Cardiff)
Sunday 12 February: France 22 - Scotland 16  (Stade de France, Paris)

Round 3:
Saturday 25 February: Scotland 29 - Wales 13  (Murrayfield)
Saturday 25 February: Ireland 19 - France 9  (Aviva Stadium, Dublin)
Sunday 26 February: England 36 - Italy 15  (Twickenham)

Round 4:
Friday 10 March: Wales 22 - Ireland 9  (Principality Stadium)
Saturday 11 March: Italy 18 - France 40  (Stadio Olimpico)
Saturday 11 March: England 61 - Scotland 21  (Twickenham)

Round 5:
Saturday 18 March: Scotland 29 - Italy 0  (Murrayfield)
Saturday 18 March: France 20 - Wales 18  (Stade de France)
Saturday 18 March: Ireland 13 - England 9  (Aviva Stadium)

At the completion of all the fixtures, here is the final table (compiled by me, as a Microsoft Word document):

So it is congratulations to ENGLAND, the Six Nations Champions for 2017!

🏉

6 Nations: Competitions within a Competition

THE RBS 6 Nations rugby union tournament has matches which have their own individual prizes - And this post is bringing you those results in the tournament and hopefully bring you a little bit of information about the trophies.

The first of these trophies was the Centenary Quaich, which has been presented to the winners of the annual Scotland - Ireland fixture since 1989. The 2017 holders of the Quaich are Scotland, who defeated Ireland 27-22 at Murrayfield, on the opening day of the 6 Nations tournament, Saturday 4 February. Here is Scotland Captain Greig Laidlaw lifting the Quaich after the match:

TWO more trophies were played for on the afternoon of Saturday 11 March: First, the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy (Italian: Trofeo Garibaldi; French: Trophée Garibaldi), which has been presented to the winners of the France - Italy fixture since 2007. Here is the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy:

The 2017 holders of the Trophy are France, who defeated Italy at Stadio Olimpico on March 11. The result: Italy 18 - France 40. Here is very short footage of France with the Trophy, courtesy of the FF Rugby Twitter feed:

#XVdeFrance Les Bleus remportent le trophée Garibaldi 👏 #ITAFRA pic.twitter.com/5quhiM2d1R

— FF Rugby (@FFRugby) March 11, 2017

FINALLY, the Calcutta Cup match also took place on Saturday 11 March. The Calcutta Cup is one of the oldest trophies, introduced in 1879, and is competed for every year between England and Scotland. The 2017 holders of the Cup are England, who defeated Scotland 61-21 at Twickenham on March 11. Here is England Captain Dylan Hartley with the Calcutta Cup, after receiving it from the platform party:

There is one final round of matches, taking place on Saturday 18 March, which will complete the 2017 RBS 6 Nations.