Image Source: CBC/Google Earth
(Source: CBC Yukon)
From Yukon to Finland: CBC’s radio signal heard from afar
Host Elyn Jones heard saying ‘this is Yukon Morning,’ about 7,000 kilometres away
A keen listener has managed to hear CBC Yukon’s radio broadcast from about 7,000 kilometres away.
Jorma Mäntylä lives in Kangasala, Finland.
On Oct.15 he was scanning the airwaves and came across the signal from Dawson City, Yukon, broadcasting CBC’s Yukon Morning show.
The signal lasted about an hour.
“It was clear to hear your Yukon Morning program led by a female journalist and the morning news,” he said.
The host that day was Elyn Jones in Whitehorse.
Upon hearing the signal Mäntylä sent an email with an attached audio clip asking for confirmation.
CBC Yukon wrote him back to confirm what he’d heard. We also scheduled an interview by videoconference to speak about his hobby.
No ordinary radio
Mäntylä doesn’t have an ordinary radio. He’s part of the Suomen Radioamatööriliitto, the Finnish Amateur Radio League.
He started listening to signals in 1967.
He uses custom-built equipment to scan for shortwave and AM radio signals.
Sometimes it takes a while, through the crackle, to determine the language being spoken and from where the signal is broadcasting.
The game is to discover new stations, identify them, and then send an email to confirm the reception.
“I very often listen to foreign radio stations. That has been my hobby for 50 years,” he said. ‘It’s given me interesting moments learning about other cultures and nations,”
Hearing a signal from Yukon is rare. Mäntylä says on Oct. 15 he also heard broadcasts from radio stations in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska.