My AM Archive : March 2021

 GOOD morning, good afternoon, good evening, goodnight, wherever you are reading this blog post at this moment. It is good evening as I compose this post, at it is a few minutes after 1900 UTC / GMT. The clock on the left column of this blog is set to UTC, which I hope helps your understanding to times recorded in the posts on this blog - I really should find a link which explains the term UTC for times. That sounds like a plan for another post.

This post brings memories of broadcasts heard March 2021 on Medium Wave.  A previous post of Medium Wave logs, heard February 2021, can be found here.

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

Receiver used: Sangean ATS-405.

March 2021 : Medium Wave

• [Thursday] 18 March [2021]: 1815 UTC: 1098 kHz: SRo3 Rádio Devin  Music in English, male singer, UK artist James Yorkston, singing of London at New Year, references to drinking. Segue into next song: Bjork 'Vulnicara'.
  This programme is 'Folkfórum' ('Folklore'), female host: Sone Horňákovej
  (Listen to the programme from the STVR archive here)
  Good to fair reception, 25 kW via Nitra - Jarok, Slovakia.
  1829 UTC: Quick-paced ID, male speech. Change of tempo to male vocal music, English language song. Speech from the host, music was from Teho Teardo & Blixha Bargeld.
  Logged to 1834 UTC.
• 18 March: 1837 UTC: 1107 kHz: MFR 2 [Greatest Hits Radio]  Music: 'Yes Sir, I Can Boogie' (Baccara), ID: 'Good times sound like this' Music: Del Amitri 'Nothing Ever Happens'. Strong co-channel via Rome.
  1.5 kW via Tarbat Ness for Inverness. Fair to poor reception.
  Ads: Currys - PC World. Covid-19. Gold. Music: Earth Wind & Fire 'September'.
  Lost to Rome.
  Logged to 1846 UTC.
• 18 March: 1905 UTC: 1125 kHz: RNE Radio 5  Female and male in conversation, Spanish language. Possibly the show 'Por Tres Razones' ('For Three Reasons'), female host: Mamen Asencio.
  Good to fair reception, transmission power logged as 12 / 10 kW, but transmission site not noted 🤦
  ID for Radio Nacional de España at 1915 UTC.
  Logged to 1920 UTC.
  

  

  Issue one of 'The Voice for the Dales'
  The Official Fresh Radio Magazine
  Fresh Radio (1997 - 2012)

  18 March: 1927 UTC: 1134 kHz: COPE Navarra (Spain)  Male and female speech, Spanish language. Music: The Beatles 'Here Comes The Sun'. ID for COPE Navarra. Fast-paced speech, music, ID jingle, music, time signal ('pips') for 1930 UTC, ID for COPE. Programme: 'La Linterna' ('The Lantern').
  Good to poor reception, most likely 10 kW via Salamanca. Possibility of an echo broadcast via Pamplona.
  Logged to 1936 UTC.
• 18 March: 1952 UTC: 1143 kHz: COPE Jaén (Spain)  Speech in Spanish, from male and female, lost to heavy noise. Male speech regarding football.
  Fair to poor reception, 5 kW via Jaén.
  Logged to 2001 UTC.
• 18 March: 2005 UTC: 1152 kHz: RNE Radio 5  Female speech in Spanish, 'Radio Cinco', male speech via telephone. Programme: 'Reserva Natural' ('Nature Reserve'), female host: Josefina Maestre.
  Fair to poor reception, up to 25 kW via Malaga.
  (Co-channel music: Ed Sheeran 'Perfect', Cutting Crew '(I Just) Died in Your Arms'.
  Logged to 2015 UTC.
• 18 March: 2017 UTC: 1161 kHz: Tay 2  Music: Chaka Khan 'I'm Every Woman', female ID 'This is the music marathon', music: Marvin Gaye 'Sexual Healing'. The presenter is Gavin Pearson.
  (Co-channel broadcast from Smooth Radio via Blunsdon, Swindon, Wiltshire, 160 watts)
  Music: The Jam 'That's Entertainment', ID 'The Greatest Hits' music: Stevie Wonder 'Sir Duke'. Ad break. Music: Rod Stewart 'You Wear It Well', Lenny Kravitz 'It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over', Crowded House.
  Good to poor reception, 1.4 kW via Greenside Scalp, Dundee.
  Logged to 2028 UTC.
• 18 March: 2038 UTC: 1170 kHz: Greatest Hits Radio  Music: Crowded House 'Don't Dream It's Over' Greatest Hits Radio for South Wales - 'Get involved in Cash for kids South Wales, kids in South Wales affected by Covid-19 and poverty'. Greatest Hits Radio website. Ad break: Ladbrokes.
  580 watts via Winsh-wen, Swansea (ex-Swansea Sound). Good to poor reception.
  Ad: 2021 elections. NHS health Swansea. ID: 'Greatest Hits Radio - South Wales' Music: Men At Work 'Down Under'.
  Logged to 2050 UTC.
• 18 March: 2054 UTC: 1179 kHz: Radio Valencia  Spanish speech in the 'Hora 25' programme, leading up to 2100 UTC time 'pips' signal. Female speech, interval signal, music, female speech 'España', music, applause. 'Pepa Bueno' ?
  Co-channel broadcast of male speech, possibly Romania.
  Good to poor reception, up to 50 kW via Valencia (Radio Valencia via CadenaSER).
  Logged to 2105 UTC.
  

  

  Envelope head and postmarks from YLE Radio Finland, which broadcast on 558 kHz and 963 kHz.

  18 March: 2108 UTC: 1197 kHz: Absolute Radio  Female speech, music: Travis 'Turn'.
  Fair to poor reception, possibly / most likely 400 watts via Nottingham.
  Male speech, ID, music.
  Contact address for Absolute Radio: One Golden Square, London W1F 9DJ
  Logged to 2115 UTC.

My AM Archive : March 2019

 SIX years since originally heard, I present logs of Medium Wave (AM) broadcasts, heard March 2019.

A previous post of Medium Wave logs, dated early 2019, can be found here.

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

Receiver used: Sangean ATS-405

March 2019 : Medium Wave

• [Monday] 18 March [2019]: 2002 UTC: 1134 kHz: COPE (Spain)  Male speech in Spanish language, with clips of vox pops recordings.
  Echoes and propagation; Fair reception (COPE broadcasts from multiple sites across Spain).
  Female speech in English language, dubbed into Spanish language. Music.
  Logged to 2011 UTC.
• 18 March: 2027 UTC: 1152 kHz: SRR Radio România Actualitați  Music: Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus 'Nothing Breaks Like A Heart'. Time marker for 2030 UTC (pips), female speech from Bucharest, Romania. Male speech.
  Fair reception (Co-channel music from UK broadcasts on low power).
  Logged to 2037 UTC.
• 18 March: 2041 UTC: 1161 kHz: Tay 2  Music: Boy Meets Girl 'Waiting For A Star To Fall' Male host, talks of songs coming up, including Culture Club. Segue into showbiz news - ID for Tay 2. Speech regarding BBC drama series. Ads.
  (Fade out into Smooth Radio [Details below])
  Tay 2 reception: Strong to fair. 1.4 kW to Dundee via Greenside Scalp.
  Music: Blondie 'Heart of Glass'. Tay 2 ID. Music: Annie Lennox 'Little Bird'.
  Logged to 2050 UTC.
  [Smooth Radio : Playing Enrique Inglesias 'Hero', male talks of Mother's Day coming up, music: Elton John 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight'. ID for Smooth Radio. Music: Lionel Richie.
  Fair reception. 160 watts to Wiltshire via Blunsdon, Swindon.]

From The Archive: 1494 kHz Asfaltstelegrafen - The Asphalt Telegraph QSL, 2019.

21 UTC: Tea ☺

• 18 March: 2113 UTC: 1170 kHz: Greatest Hits Radio  Music: Genesis 'I Can't Dance' ID for Greatest Hits Radio - Playing Genesis for dance school in Liverpool. Music: Mike Oldfield 'Moonlight Shadow', Wings 'Live and Let Die'.
  Strong to good reception. 320 watts via Hardwick transmitter, Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside.
  Music: Culture Club 'Karma Chameleon'.
  Logged to 2122 UTC.

Listening to 10cc 'I'm Not In Love'.

• 18 March: 2132 UTC: 1179 kHz: SER (Spain)  Male and female speech, Spanish language.
  Strong to good reception.
  Round table discussion programme.
  Logged to 2141 UTC.
• 18 March: 2151 UTC: 1197 kHz: Absolute Radio  Female and male speech, this is a low(er) power broadcast from Absolute Radio. Female and male talking about a band and album. Female host was joined in the studio by George Ezra. Female host signing off, back on air tomorrow evening. Music: Paul Simon 'You Can Call Me Al'.
  Strong to fair reception. This signal is relatively clear, possibly 400 watts via Wallasey, Merseyside (Absolute Radio recently turned off / reduced power on AM).
  Ad break, ID, no news at 22 UTC, music: The La's 'There She Goes'.
  Logged to 2205 UTC.

My AM Archive: July 2015

 SUMMER 2015 provides the memories of Medium Wave broadcasts in this post on Reporting From The Fox Tower.

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

July 2015 : Medium Wave

[ (Friday) 3 July (2015): 1925 UTC: 999 kHz: Unconfirmed logs of broadcasts, most likely to have been Rock FM 2, Preston, though possibly Gold Nottingham or BBC Radio Solent. Poor to fair reception. Logged to 1943 UTC. ]

• 3 July: 1952 UTC: 1008 kHz: Groot Nieuws Radio  Music; Heavy propagation.
  Music with English lyrics: Female lead vocals, male backing vocals. Fade out by propagation.
  Fair to poor reception.
  Logged to 1958 UTC.

[ 3 July: 2012 UTC: 1035 kHz: Unconfirmed logs of broadcasts, possibly being Lyca Dilse, Crystal Palace, London; BBC Radio Sheffield; NorthSound 2 (Aberdeen); West Sound (Ayr). Music: Bob Marley. Fair to poor reception. Logged to 2028 UTC. ]

• 3 July: 2035 UTC: 1044 kHz: SER  Female and male speech in the Spanish language.
  Fair to poor reception.
  Transmission: 10 kW via San Sebastian, Spain.
  Logged to 2041 UTC.
• 3 July: 2044 UTC: 1053 kHz: TalkSport  Ad break: Vodafone. Content: NatWest T20 Cricket. Football World Cup; Tour de France; Steve McClaren; Tweets.
  Excellent to good reception.
  Transmission: Up to 500 kW via Droitwich.
  Logged to 2051 UTC.
• 3 July: 2059 UTC: 1071 kHz: TalkSport  Speech, ID, news headlines. Sport: Wimbledon Tennis: Heather Watson (GB) takes Serena Williams (USA) to three sets; Williams wins.
  Fair to poor reception via Wrekenton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 1 kW.
  Logged to 2104 UTC.

• 3 July: 2108 UTC: 1089 kHz: TalkSport  Males in conversation. Films. Birthdays. Slaven Bilic.
  Excellent to fair reception.
  Up to 400 kW via Moorside Edge (North England).
  Logged to 2113 UTC.
• 3 July: 2127 UTC: 1107 kHz: AFN Europe  [American Forces Network Europe] Speech; Music: Neil Diamond 'Song Sung Blue'. Speech in an American accent.
  Transmission sites: Amberg, Grafenwoehr, Vilseck, all Germany.
  Logged to 2133 UTC.

[ 3 July: 2138 UTC: 1116 kHz: Unconfirmed logs of broadcasts, possibly being BBC Radio Derby (1 kW) or BBC Radio Guernsey (500 watts). Female speech. Logged to 2204 UTC. ]

• 3 July: 2214 UTC: 1125 kHz: RTBF Viva Cite  Tentative reception of Wavre, Belgium. Speech.
  Logged to 2220 UTC.

[ 3 July: 2230 UTC: 1152 kHz: Unconfirmed logs of broadcasts, possibly being LBC (London); Clyde (Glasgow); Free (Birmingham); Metro (Newcastle-upon-Tyne); Key (Manchester); Smooth (Norfolk / Plymouth). More than one broadcast audible. Music: Rose Royce 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore'; Whitney Houston 'Didn't We Almost Have It All'. Logged to 2238 UTC. ]

• 3 July: 2245 UTC: 1161 kHz: Tay 2  Music: Crowded House 'Fall At Your Feet'; Dionne Warwick 'All The Love In The World'. Male speech; Female ID: "This is Tay 2".
  Good to fair reception; Tay 2 for Dundee via Greenside Scalp, 1.4 kW [Transmission site pictured below].
  Music: Brenda Russell. Male host; Male ID. Promo, ad break: Homebase; Yamaha motorbikes.
  ID; 23 UTC news bulletin (IRN: Independent Radio News).
  ID; Music: Elton John 'Rocket Man'. ID; Music: Dexy's Midnight Runners 'Geno'; Gerry Rafferty 'Baker Street'; Chris Rea 'Auberge'; David Bowie 'Let's Dance'. Ad break: Motorbikes for sale website. Music: George Harrison 'My Sweet Lord'.
  Logged to 2325 UTC.

Thank you for visiting Reporting From The Fox Tower!

📻

Midsummer Medium Wave logs

FRIDAY 3 July 2015, the evening of, was spent beside the Roberts R881, tuned to the Medium Wave band and here is what I heard. Times in UTC / GMT; Frequencies in kiloHertz (kHz) :

• 1925 UTC; 999 kHz : Rock FM 2, Preston. Music: The Cutting Crew, speech, ad break. Johnny Cash 'Ring of Fire'. James Blunt. Elvis Presley 'Burning Love'. The Style Council, Maroon 5. Presenter: Ray Rose. Transmission: 800 watts via Longton for Preston - Blackpool. Reception: Moderate to poor.
• 1952 UTC; 1008 kHz : Groot Nieuws Radio, Veenendaal, HOL (Holland). Music, English lyrics, female vocalist. 'Groot Nieuws Radio' translates as 'Great News Radio'. Dutch language service. Reception: Moderate to poor.

Sometimes, the Medium Wave band can be chaotic, and at 2012 UTC, on the frequency of 1035 kHz, came so many possibilities. Some of the programming I heard included female speech, male speech, music: Bob Marley 'One Love'. Just some of the broadcasts on the frequency included Lyca Dilse (Crystal Palace, London), BBC Radio Sheffield (BBC Asian Network), Northsound 2 (Aberdeen), WestSound (Ayr). Reception: Moderate to poor.

• 2035 UTC; 1044 kHz : Cadena SER, SER Euskadi, Radio San Sebastian, Spain. Male and female speech. Transmission: 10kW (kiloWatts) via San Sebastian, Spain. Reception: Poor.
• 2044 UTC; 1053 kHz : TalkSport, Droitwich. Ad break: Vodafone. NatWest T20 Cricket. Male hosts speaking of the FIFA Women's Football World Cup, men's FIFA World Cup, Le Tour de France. Newcastle United Football Club recruit Steve Mclaren as head coach. Tweets. Transmission: Up to 500 kW via Droitwich. Reception: Good.
• 2059 UTC; 1071 kHz : TalkSport, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Speech, ID, news headlines. Wimbledon Tennis: Heather Watson (GB) takes Serena Williams (US) to three sets; Williams wins. 1kW via Wrekenton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Reception: Moderate to poor.
• 2108 UTC; 1089 kHz : TalkSport, Moorside Edge. Speech: Male hosts, films, birthdays. The new head coach of West Ham United is Slaven Bilic. Up to 400 kW via Moorside Edge (North England). Reception: Moderate.
• 2127 UTC; 1107 kHz : AFN Europe, Germany. Speech, ad break, music: Neil Diamond 'Song Sung Blue'. AFN Europe is Armed Forces Network Europe; the American Forces broadcaster in Europe. Transmission via Amberg, Grafenwoehr, Vilseck, Germany.

It could have been the battle of the BBC Locals on 1116 kHz at 2138 UTC, I could hear female speech. Broadcasts listed on the frequency: BBC Radio Derby (1kW) and BBC Radio Guernsey (500 watts), plus whatever else was coming in from Europe at the time.

• 2214 UTC; 1125 kHz : RTBF VivaCite, Wavre, Belgium. Speech - Not BBC Wales.

The battle of the commercials was taking place on 1152 kHz at 2230 UTC. I heard conflicting music tracks from Rose Royce 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore', Whitney Houston, male speech. On this frequency at that time were LBC (London), Clyde (Glasgow), Free (Birmingham), Metro (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), Key (Manchester) and Smooth (Norfolk / Plymouth). I could hear more than one broadcast!

• 2245 UTC; 1161 kHz : Tay 2, Dundee. Music: Crowded House 'Fall At Your Feet', Dionne Warwick? 'All The Love In The World'. Male speech, female speech, ID for Tay 2. Madonna? 'Caught In The Middle'? Reception: Good to moderate. Transmission: 1.4 kW via Greenside Scalp, Dundee. Promo, ad break: Homebase. Midnight news bulletin. ID. Music: Elton John 'Rocket Man', Dexys Midnight Runners 'Geno'. Gerry Rafferty 'Baker Street', Chris Rea 'Auberge / Let's Dance'. Ad break: Motorbikes for sale. George Harrison 'My Sweet Lord'.

At 2325 UTC (GMT), I called it a night.