Month: December 2021

Sweden

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Important update – SAQ transmission scheduled for Christmas Eve morning, Dec. 24th.

IMPORTANT UPDATE (2021-12-22):
Due to new, harder pandemic regulations in Sweden, the Alexander association has decided that there will be no visitor activities on the radio station and the transmitter hall will be closed for visitors on Christmas Eve morning, Dec 24th. Only staff from the Alexander association will be present to operate the Alexanderson alternator.
Instead please follow our traditional Christmas transmission on our YouTube channel, se information below.
What is better than starting Christmas Eve morning with a transmission from SAQ Grimeton?
On Christmas Eve morning, Friday December 24th 2021, SAQ Grimeton is scheduled* to be on the air, to send out the traditional Christmas message to the whole world, using the 97 year old 200kW Alexanderson alternator on 17.2 kHz CW. 

Program and transmission schedule:
Transmission & YouTube Live stream:
08:25 CET (07:25 UTC): Live stream on YouTube begins.
08:30 CET (07:30 UTC): Startup and tuning of the Alexanderson Alternator SAQ.
09:00 CET (08:00 UTC): Transmission of a message from SAQ.

Test transmissions
We are planning to carry our some test transmissions on December 23rd, approximately between 13:00 CET (12:00 UTC) and 16:00 CET (15:00 UTC). SAQ will be on the air shorter periods of time during this interval, when we will be carrying out some tests and measurements. Your comments are welcome to info@alexander.n.se.

Live Video from World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station
The event can be seen live on our YouTube Channel.

QSL Reports to SAQ
QSL reports to SAQ are most welcome and appreciated!

We can not guarantee that reports by Email / mail / bureau will be confirmed.
The online form will be open from December 24th until January 14th.

Amateur Radio Station SK6SAQ
The Amateur Radio Station with the call “SK6SAQ” will be QRV on the following frequencies:
– 3.535 kHz CW
– 7.035 kHz CW
– 14.035 KHz CW
– 3.755 kHz SSB
– 7.140 kHz SSB

QSL-reports to SK6SAQ (NOT SAQ) are kindly received via:
– Email to info@alexander.n.se
– or via: SM bureau
– or direct by postal mail (link to address here)Two stations will be on the air most of the time.

Visiting World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station
Due to new, harder pandemic regulations in Sweden, the transmitter hall will be closed for visitors. 

Kari Kallio to nordx iog (2021-12-22)

Italy

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“Some information about IRRS on 207 kHz. The site is the same as 918 kHz. It’s in Italy, in Villa Estense near Padova.
The broadcaster is AM-Italia (ex. Radio Challenger) http://www.am-italia.it/
So future plans on 207 kHz with 300 meters antenna and possibly 1 kW. IRRS is on 918 kHz from 1700 to 2100 UTC.”
Test broadcasts have already taken place.

Christian Ghibaudo on the Free Radio Forum 
https://mb.boardhost.com/FreeRadioForum/msg/1639000999.html

Mike Terry to Longwaveradiolistening iog (2021-12-22)

Iceland

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Winter bandscan 2021.
I went outside early, ca. 1810Z, with the portable radio due to the aurora forecast promising (threatening) some auroral activity. The weather was calm and slightly frosty with near-cloudless sky.

The LW band had a rather good signal from Poland on 225 kHz, also noisy modulation on Allouis (162 kHz).

On the MW band, were a bit weaker than usually. There were a few Spanish stations near the low end. Higher up, Mid- and East Europe was coming in well on 954 kHz (presumably that Czech station, Dvojka) and at times swamping Talk Sport on 1053 kHz, which I guess was Romania.

Reynir Heidberg Stefansson (2021-12-21)

United States

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CORRECTION: KQKD is in Eastern, SD, located in the Central Time Zone. The error is mine. Corrected times below:
The Courtesy Program Committee (CPC) of the International Radio Club of America and the National Radio Club is pleased to announce a special maintenance test with KQKD 1380 Redfield, SD. The test will be conducted by Ron Schacht, Chief Engineer/Owner.
The test is scheduled for early Saturday morning January 15, 2022, starting at one minute after midnight and continuing for the next three hours (0001 Central Standard Time until 0300AM CDT.) This is 0601 UTC until 0900 UTC.
During the test, the station will be operating on their daytime power of 500 watts on 1380 kHz. The test will consist of Morse Code identifications, sweep tones, and other content designed to aid reception at great distances.
Morse will be transmitted at 1,000 Hz, there will also be long-duration tones at 1,000 Hz, and other material that centers on this audio frequency.
[Details here: https://mediumwave.info/2021/12/21/united-states-217/]

Les Rayburn, N1LF CPC Chairman to WOR iog (2021-12-21)

Japan

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Video of NHK Transmitter Site.
Here’s an interesting video of a NHK AM relay site.  The talking and subtitles are in Japanese but you can still get a good idea of what’s there.
https://twitter.com/nhk_miyazaki/status/1472371195328835588?t=A4p7k7zvnMFyXYfkdr1t2g&s=19&fbclid=IwAR30lmKBgENcSgOwvT5ckCKBpyx4fdWIvqJbJYTSMnN6D8Ina_0kplumTz4

Credit Fumiaki Minematsu, who posted it on the DXing.info Facebook group.  His comment: “This is an NHK radio relay sration in Murasumi, Miyazaki(NHK1 540kHz 5kW ,NHK2 1467kHz 1kW ) . You can watch the facilities in the station. This must be very rare for MW DXers to see them.”

Bruce Portzer Dec 20   #23658 , IRCA iog via WOR iog (2021-12-21)

Russia

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Re. Selenginsk: Marco has possibly missed the fact that on maps the big mast for 279kHz at 52° 02′ 17″N, 106° 56′ 27″E is still standing proudly.
If the reduction in masts used for higher frequencies is a threat to the LW mast I doubt. They tend to survive longest.

Dan Goldfarb (2021-12-21)

I also think it will not affect LW, but I read rumors that they want to get rid off more than 1 radiocenter. See the changes in Noginsk (MW ARRT demolition rumors and eastern (same street) SW/MW free-standing towers incl. cooling pond removed), Surgut (MW directional antenna removed, feeder lines for ARRT antennas removed), Selenginsk and Ekaterinburg SW (cooling pond removed).

Marco (2021-12-21)

Ukraine

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549 kHz UA1 Mykolaiv off-air?
At this time I can’t hear 549 kHz on this SDR: http://kiwi.24×7.hk:8073/?f=549.00amz3
It was extremely well audible here, the neighbor channels were also interfered by it, now silence. Romania is audible on 1179 Khz, so SDR seems ok.
On other SDRs also silence on 549 khz. Yesterday it was still on air.

Marco (2021-12-21)

United States

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The Courtesy Program Committee (CPC) of the International Radio Club of America and the National Radio Club is pleased to announce a special maintenance test with KQKD 1380 Redfield, SD. The test will be conducted by Ron Schacht, Chief Engineer/Owner.
The test is scheduled for early Saturday morning January 15, 2022, starting at one minute after midnight and continuing for the next three hours (0001 Mountain Time until 0300AM CDT.) This is 0601 UTC until 0901 UTC.
During the test, the station will be operating on their daytime power of 500 watts on 1380 kHz. The test will consist of Morse Code identifications, sweep tones, and other content designed to aid reception at great distances.
Morse will be transmitted at 1,000 Hz, there will also be long-duration tones at 1,000 Hz, and other material that centers on this audio frequency.

RECEPTION REPORTS & QSL REQUESTS
All reception reports will be verified through the CPC. Reception reports along with MP3 recordings or .MP4 video recordings of your reception should be emailed to: les@highnoonfilm.com with the subject line: “KQKD 1380 RECEPTION REPORT.”
The following requirements are in effect in order to receive an electronic QSL verifying your report:

  • Reports via email only. Email must include an MP3 file attachment of your reception (best two minutes or so in length) or an MP4 video clip. While written descriptions will be considered along with the recording, they will not suffice alone for verification.
  • Reports must be submitted within 30 days of the test.
  • The report must include your name, location, and return e-mail address, clearly grouped together at the top of the verification request.
  • Please also include a description of your receiver, antenna, and any interference noted.
  • If you use a remote SDR to receive the test, you must clearly indicate that in your verification request. We will only accept one such report per DX’er. You cannot log the test on multiple remote SDRs and request multiple verifications.

TIME MACHINE DX TEST
Due to a miscommunication from myself, KQKD already conducted a maintenance test on December 11, 2021 from 1AM until 4AM CDT but no advance publicity was given to the test. I regret greatly the error and apologize to Ron Schacht.If any DX’ers recorded on that night during the overnight hours, please review your recordings of 1380 kHz. You may have already logged the station. If so, please submit those to my email for verification now. It’s not often we get to time travel to conduct a DX Test.Best of luck to all who are attempting to hear this test. The NRC and IRCA would like to thank Ron Schacht and the staff of KQKD for agreeing to run our special material during their maintenance testing.

Les Rayburn, N1LF CPC Chairman to WOR iog (2021-12-21)