Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Porter, who shares the following announcement:
Woofferton Transmitting Station UK – 80th Anniversary – October 17, 2023
To mark this anniversary Encompass Digital Media at WOF will be running a special programme on HF :
Tuesday 17th October 2023 from 1330 – 1430 UTC/GMT
Sender 95 Marconi (BD272 from 1963) 250 kW AM 15245 kHz Array 928 294* for North America
Sender 96 Riz 250 kW AMC 17785 kHz Array 904A 114* for Europe and beyond.
Sender 92 Riz 110 kW DRM 11725 kHz Array 909A 114* for Europe and beyond.
There will be an opening interval signal on all three frequencies.
The programme content will be historical facts of WOF in BBC, VoA, Radio Free Europe, R Liberty ,CBC etc and the later privatised times, DW and VoV for example as well as up-to-date information on DRM as well as personal recollections from many former WOF staff. There will be station idents of services over the years.
There will be a special e-QSL card and the chance to enter a competition to win a historic station artifact and an Woofferton 80th mug.
There may be more details to follow…
Watch this space
73
Dave Porter G4OYX
Broadcast coverage plots
GRACIAS, 73s
Any chance t he program audio can be posted here?
you can find it here
Woofferton@80
https://www.mixcloud.com/EDMRadioOnline/woofferton80/
Note that this recording does not include the interval signals from the different stations that used Woofferton that concluded the last 10 minutes or so of the program.
you can find the stream on the encompass website
-> https://www.encompass.tv/historic-radio-site-celebrates-80-years/
I have uploaded to Google Drive and Dropbox the recording I made using my Icom IC-705 on 17785 kHz in the UK.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u36eEodvUu5V6DfdrqByHAcPHLT4AfgY/view?usp=share_link
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/u6qbgdi0u432uq4d2dpxu/20231017_132843.wav?rlkey=q1hbtp1s9tfboxyoye6kvnihq&dl=0
73, David – G4EDR
Reception was fine business up in MI, USA on 15245kc. I sent a report to compass.tv to that effect.
Wonderful hour program led off with a fine history of Wooferton transmitters and ended by repeating various vocal and musical interludes used to mark stations going off-air over the years.
I really enjoyed joining in this celebration of the wonders of radio, a hobby I have enjoyed for nearly 50 years.
reportes a : [email protected]
Gracias
From Santiago de Chile. 15.245 Khz. SINPO 25432. ICOM 7300 Dipolo antenna. 73s Hugo Lopez, Call CE3BBC. QTH for report please???? Mail [email protected] TX!!!!!!
Well I certainly hope that the segment makes it to air today TUESDAY OCTOBER 18!!! as I could not hear a thing last night which was Monday October 17 on either 17785 or DRM11725. Somebody made a mistake in saying it was to be on Tuesday 17th October, as that was NOT the correct date!
I hope there is something tonight at midnight South Australia, which will be 1330 UTC on Tuesday (18th).
Jerome
Now I DO feel like an idiot! I could have sworn that yesterday was the 17th, and that today (Tuesday would be the 18th)! Please ignore the above post: I don’t know what calendar I was looking at.
And YES, it is on tonight. I’m listening and recording the signal on 17785. Better on a nearby KiwiSDR than on on my own SDR, but still very listenable.
I may even send them a report!
So what are the frequencies? The written piece differs from tha shots posted.
Also, whats the address for reporting and QSL?
Many thanks, and Happy Birthday Wofferton!
Pedro, saludos. Si tienes novedades donde enviar reportes, agradeceré mail a [email protected]
73s Hugo
Wow! No transmissions to South America and Africa! And Woofferton (Encompass) has a good revenue from BBC Africa, which can be tuned here in southern Brasil.
It is interesting to compare the signal strength maps above for Europe.
The AMC signal is stronger than the DRM signal. This is because the AMC still has a carrier who’s power is dependent on the volume of the audio hence the ‘C’. The carrier power is reduced during low volume sound. Most AM broadcasters use sound compressors for the maximum volume signal to overcome the noise. DRM has no carrier at all so the field strength is the average power which is lower, but also the received signal strength may be lower because the receiver can apply error correction and still produce continuous sound without interference and noise being audible.
Worth noting that the maps are set to 34dB SNR for AM, 21&23dB SNR on the DRM; aka that is compensated for. It’s much more down to frequency choice than anything else (17 vs 11MHz!)