Tag Archives: transmitter

Is Someone Refurbing Shortwave Transmitters In Ethiopia?

I think the answer to this is.. YES! I say that based upon my monitoring from here in McGrath, Alaska.

I’ve never ever ever heard Amhara State Radio on 6090khz from my QTH. Now, that doesn’t mean they’ve never been on, but I’ve never even heard a carrier from them and I can’t recall anyone logging them.

Well, Saturday night February 17th (AK time) I detected an initially unknown signal on 6090khz. I noticed it just after 0300 Sun Feb. 18, I heard what was very decidedly African continent sounding music. It appeared to be one long track on a loop, because 2 days later, I had the same melody going for over 15 minutes… so I kept listening on that 3rd day and heard it fade down as it ended and started again.

There was no modulation that 2nd day. But as we look at the 3rd day again, I heard a different track start about 0345UTC or so. About,0352 I heard a guy speak (!!) but the signal started to lose steam quickly. About 0356 which is the listed sign on for Amhara on 6090khz, I heard an actual song start and about 0401 I heard a lady speak with what sounded like music.

Amharic is used on Shortwave by the BBC, Deutsche Welle and the VOA. While I don’t claim to be a language expert at all, what I heard on 6090 did sound similar to what I’ve heard from other broadcasters.

Fast forward to Wednesday night February 21st (AK Time), I detected a signal on 6110khz. To be fair, I’ve had something an “ok-ish” a few times from my Alaska QTH but with less modulation than Cuba or Iran. On Feb. 22nd (UTC) on the 0300 hour, I had a GOOD signal with modulation (!!) on 6110khz.

6110’s audio had, again like 6090khz, decidedly African continent sounding music and lots of speech that sounded like Amharic to me.

6090khz and 6110khz either share a site or are close by. Is someone refurbing their transmitters…. China? I sent a message to the Amhara State Media Facebook page but haven’t gotten an answer back.

I wonder what’s going on here? Your thoughts and comments are welcome

Paul Walker

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New Mediumwave Facility for Fiji

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There’s an interesting YouTube documentary released by the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation on the refurbishment of both transmitters and antennas for the mediumwave outlets of 558 and 990 kHz. This was completed with the financial and technical assistance of the Japanese government. It will be very interesting for MW DXers to see how well the new facility will be heard beyond the Fijian borders.

https://youtu.be/VTLKeW-TmoQ

There is also a somewhat less interesting YouTube video of the Fijian dictator Prime Minister Bainimarama at the official launch of the revitalized service, which can be found at https://youtu.be/kOza_Ov7f48

It was fascinating to hear Prime Minister Bainimarama talking about democratic freedoms in the broadcasting media….This from a man who for many years has done his level best to suppress and control the Fijian media on countless occasions!
(My thanks to Mauno Ritola and Bruce Portzer for alerting me to the above links)

73, Rob Wagner VK3BVW

Rob Wagner, VK3BVW, is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. He also blogs at the Mount Evelyn DX Report.

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Standing Inside a Broadcast Transmitter While it’s ON!

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I stumbled across a video from the fabulous Mr Carlson’s Lab YouTube channel. If you haven’t check out this channel before, and you are really eager to learn more about electronics, this is a wonderful YouTube site.

So, in the latest episode, Mr Carlson takes us on a tour of a very large Gates BC-250-GY broadcast transmitter from the 40’s era. Lots of big tubes, transformers and capacitors! This is an old mediumwave transmitter that he has restored. Although the technology has changed markedly since the 1940s, the basic principals of transmission are still present. And, interestingly, he points out that this particular unit was in regular service right up until as recently as 2003!

It’s an interesting show and even if you can’t grab onto all the technical information presented, I think you will enjoy looking at technology from a past era.

73 and good DX to you all,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW