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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mangosman, for sharing the following press release from Radio Exterior de España. Please note that the original press release was in Spanish and can be viewed at RTVE Comunicación. What follows is a machine translation:
Radio Exterior de España transmits its programming on Short Wave from its broadcasting center in Noblejas (Toledo). Source: RTVE
Radio Exterior de España: The Short Wave service of REE reaches Ukraine and Russia
Radio Exterior de España, the international channel of Radio Nacional de España, offers an open window to truthful information in times of war through Short Wave. The Russian attack on the Kiev communications tower has silenced several television channels. The Internet and social networks are easily controllable, and the telecommunications infrastructure that provides Internet service is highly vulnerable to attack.
True to its commitment to public service, the Short Wave broadcasts of Radio Exterior de España, in Spanish and Russian, are the only Spanish ones that can publicize the reality of the invasion, its repercussions, the testimonies and the demonstrations of solidarity to the Ukrainian population directly. They can be easily received with affordable receivers and you cannot control who is listening to them, unlike online radio broadcasts.
Radio Exterior de España transmits its programming on Short Wave from its broadcasting center in Noblejas (Toledo) to Ukraine and Russia, thus preventing any type of control or censorship by the Russian army. Any citizen from the war zone can access a proven, serious, truthful and honest source of information.
With broadcasts in English, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Sephardic and Russian, Radio Exterior de España offers its listeners the transmission of all the national and international events that arouse the interest of world public opinion regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its global consequences. A work that is enriched by the live testimony of the correspondents and special envoys of Radio Nacional de España to the conflict zone and its area of ??influence.
Radio Exterior de España’s short wave broadcasts for Ukraine and Russia are broadcast in Spanish from 5:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Spanish time (4:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. UTC) and in Russian from 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Spanish time (6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. UTC time).
Radio Exterior de España’s “Amigos de la Onda Corta” latest show marks the history of the 50 years of the Noblejas Broadcast Center.
Program Summary (loose translation)
Noblejas is the voice of Spain in the world, the only shortwave site that Radio Exterior de España currently has to broadcast the country’s events.
The RNE Shortwave Broadcast Center No. 2 was inaugurated on July 21, 1971. It is the largest space in dimensions that the Spanish Radio Television Corporation currently has. For half a century, Noblejas has been the voice of Spain to the world, the only transmission site that Radio Exterior de España currently has after the closure of the centers in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1982, Arganda del Rey (Madrid) in 1985 and Cariari de Pococí (Costa Rica) in 2013. It occupies 144 hectares (355 acres) and has a main building with three floors offering 8,000 square meters of useful area, housing four transmitters with which the REE signal is transmitted to all of the Americas, West Africa, the South Atlantic, the Middle East, and the Indian Ocean. The antenna field consists of 27 directional curtain arrays that encompass some three kilometers in length. The Noblejas transmission center has been operating for 50 years. It was only absent for two months (from October to December 2014) when the government wanted to halt REE shortwave broadcasts (ed. – RTVE budget cuts.) Fortunately, the broadcasts returned, and listeners still can enjoy eight hours of daily broadcasting on that band.
(The “Amigos” program notes the station still has available four 100 kilowatt units capable of 6-26 Mhz. REE broadcasts in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Russian, English and Sefardí.)
I’ve been doing a lot of SWLing with the new Icom IC-705. I suppose I’ve not much to post here other than to simply say: I think Radio Exterior de España‘s interval signal looks brilliant on the ‘705 waterfall. I captured this at the end of their scheduled broadcast around 22:02 UTC today.
Of course, the audio was pretty nice, too. Their interval signal is unmistakable:
I’ll admit: I’m loving the native recording capabilities of the IC-705. This came straight off of the MicroSD card. Bandwidth was set to 9 kHz.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tracy Wood (K7OU), who shares the following guest post:
Arganda del Rey Transmitter Building
SWLing.com now takes “Spot the shortwave radio set in the movie or show” to new heights –
“Spot the shortwave radio station in the TV series”
The former Radio Exterior de España (REE) shortwave transmitter site at Arganda del Rey forms the backdrop for the fourth season of the hit Spanish TV series “El Ministerio del Tiempo” (the Ministry of Time). The show’s premise – unlike today’s superpowers with their high-tech kinetic weaponry, Spain’s 21st century advantage lies in the nation’s time-traveling skills.
Grand Entrance looking down on actor
The show’s producers tip their hat to the “Centro Emisor de Onda Corta” facility as the Ministry of Time’s “headquarters” relocates this season to this historic broadcast complex. The large engineering library, old shortwave transmitters, electric rectification hardware and even antenna field form a ready-made stage.
Power rectification units
Up into the early 1990’s Arganda del Rey served as a shortwave and medium wave site. When all the shortwave services finally migrated over to Noblejas (40 km SE) the Arganda del Rey center continued as the long-standing medium wave location for Radio Nacional de España’s Radio 1 (585 kHz 600kw) and Radio 5 (657 kHz 50kw). Arganda is now completely inactive with the last transmissions being DRM tests on 1359 kHz with 10 kilowatts. The facility was replaced by Madrid’s Majadahonda site.
Ministerio de Tiempo viewers first get a hint of the radio connection as the character “Alonso de Entrerríos“ (played by José Ignacio “Nacho” Fresneda García) drives towards the new headquarters. In the background we see the old Radio 5 antenna array. As the character Alonso approaches the building he looks up and sees the historic “Radio Nacional de España” lettering above the building entrance thus confirming the “Headquarters” original purpose.
Cross Dipole Antenna
A DXer might mistake the Radio 5 array for a shortwave NVIS antenna but instead it is a rare medium-wave cross-dipole arrangement; it was also this antenna that RTVE used for the DRM tests. The only remaining shortwave antennae at Arganda del Rey are some abandoned log-periodics which support a growing stork colony.
Satellite TVRO hobbyists also may recognize the “Arganda del Rey” municipality. HISPASAT has established its main uplink facility in a nearby industrial park in this same Madrid suburb.
Radio textbooks and HF transmitter in background…
Many thanks to DXer Pedro Sedano, General Coordinator of the Asociación Española de Radioescuchas (aer.org.es), for confirming the complete abandonment of Arganda del Rey from an RF-perspective. Also contributing is Ulis Fleming, K3LU, who several months earlier identified a NO-DO newsreel that helped tie the pieces together.
Links
An English-language description of the facility is here:
“ Located on the Chinchón road, alongside the Arganda Bridge, this former Radio Nacional de España building, opened in 1954, is today popular for being the new headquarters of The Ministry of Time in its fourth season, the successful TVE series, as well as having appeared in other productions, such as a post office in Velvet Collection (Movistar +), and as the Medical Research Centre in La Valla (Antena 3).”
“The building, now abandoned, forms part of a set of buildings located on both sides of the road in which RNE had the headquarters of the medium and short-wave radio stations, houses and warehouses, whereby the most representative is this monumental property that was home to the short-wave radio station. “
“The building was designed by the architect, Diego Méndez, following the guidelines of classic architecture from the Franco era. Inside, the entrance hall stands out, a square room decorated with polychromatic marbles, presided by an impressive staircase with two flights of stairs, which is also in marble. On the first floor, there is all of the machinery for generating the necessary voltage and current for the short-wave transmitters, and the third floor has a library with important telecommunications books and articles.”
Thank you so much, Tracy, for putting this post together!
Now I wish my Spanish comprehension was better as I’d love to watch this show–sounds like a fascinating story line! And the transmitter site is pure radio eye candy! Brilliant!
Many thanks for sharing this excellent bit of radio history, Ulis. I was just telling a friend that Radio Exterior de España still has one of the biggest signals out of Europe into North America these days on 9690 kHz.
Andrea Borgnino–journalist and Internet Content Manager for RAI (RadioTelevisione Italiana)–posted a couple of photos of the Radio Exterior de España studios on Twitter this morning, so I thought I’d share them here on the SWLing Post:
Very cool, Andrea! I would love to visit the REE studios some day!
It’s so amazing to still hear REE’s booming signal on the shortwaves. They’re one of the only shortwave broadcasters I know of (other than the Voice of Greece) which was taken off the air, only to return later.
Radio Exterior de España has posted an updated broadcast schedule (in Spanish) on their website. I have translated and pasted the shortwave schedules below:
Radio Exterior de España transmits its programming from 18:00 to 22:00 hours, Coordinated Universal Time, Monday through Friday. Broadcast frequencies and coverage areas are:
Africa and South Atlantic, 15,450 Khz , 19 meter band.
South America, 17,715 Khz , 16 meter band.
North America, 17,855 Khz , 16 meter band.
Middle East and Indian, 15,490 Khz , 19 meter band.
And on Saturdays and Sundays:
Africa and South Atlantic, 21,620 Khz band of 13 meters (14 to 18 hours), and 15,450 kHz band of 19 meters (18 to 22 hours).
South America, 17,715 Khz band of 16 meters (14 to 18 hours).
North America, 17,855 Khz band of 16 meters (14 to 18 hours).
Middle East and Indian, 15,490 Khz band of 19 meters (14 to 18 hours).
(In case you’re keeping tabs: yes, REE is still on the air, though basically as a relay of RNE.)
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Andrea Borgnino–journalist and Internet Content Manager for RAI (
