1540: For the past four nights, KXPA-1540 Bellevue WA has been running open carrier all night from 12m-6am PDT, airing hourly station IDs and nothing else.  Perhaps a problem with the automation system, or maybe lack of business.  KXPA has a brokered time format, with everything from Brother Stair to Asian programs.

So far, very little has been heard except for KXEL and KMPC. Both often heard when KXPA has regular programming.  For some reason, KXEL dominates until about 3 am, and then disappears, leaving KMPC almost alone.

I did have a weak station with Regional Mexican music at times. So far I haven’t heard any IDs or other announcements.  Maybe KASA or one of the Texas stations?

It’ll be interesting to see how long this lasts.  I’d love to hear Bahamas on 1540.

Bruce Portzer to irca iog (2022-10-31)

Another unexpected Nigerian heard well at 2254- 2305utc (sign-off):
Radio Benue [594 kHz]

No trace of anything on 917kHz, so what has happened to Radio Gotel (from which I have yet to get an audio).
A good night for signals from Nigeria!

Steve Whitt to mwcircle iog (2022-10-30)

Gotel was always very fine at my Afrika Beverage the last few days, sometimes up to S7, short clip enclosed. Yesterday there was no signal on 917.
Benue and Kaduna could also be heard repeatedly over the last few days here in Salzburg.

73 Christoph Ratzer to mwcircle iog (2022-10-31)

Gotel can be heard again with a good signal after 22 UT.

73 Christoph Ratzer to mwcircle iog (2022-10-31 at 2230 UTC)

Call for the recording of LW and MW bands before many transmitters disappear

The increasing energy costs are apparently speeding up the shutdown of still active LW and MW transmitters (see. e.g. announcements of RTL and rumors about other stations). In this context I would like to post a call in context with project COHIRADIA hosted by www.radiomuseum.org, which aims at conserving complete AM signals (e.g. 500 -1600 kHz) so that they can be played back in the future when many transmitters do not exist any more. But we have to be quick and I need help: If you, as an LW/MW amateur, possess a suitable SDR and are willing to help, please contact me: hermann.scharfetter@gmail.com Requirements are

(1) an SDR with high resolution (>= 12bit) like e.g. RSP1A (SDRPlay), HF+ Discovery (Airspy) or other high-quality SDRs which support AM band operation. A STEMLAB125-14 by RedPitaya also serves this purpose if coupled to a suitable preamp/filter and operated with my COHIRADIA software.

(2) a fairly good antenna (also active whip antennas may help)

(3) a QTH with fairly low urban RF noise or the possibility to move to a low-nose QTH with mobile equipment

Next urgent activites (and there are certainly more…):

– recordings of the Korean MW band before Nov 9th (see the posting on Oct 15th by Koji Shimotori to DXing.info FB group)

– recordings of the European LW band before Dec 31st 2022, the shutdown of RTL

– recordings of the British LW/MW bands in the near future, best directly in GB

– recordings from sites where the Mongolian LW transmitters can be received (see posts by C K Raman, Eduard and Ydun Ritz, Oct 28th)

I would be happy if, together, we could save a few interesting international snapshots of AM broadcasting and share them with other amateurs, who like to keep some memories of this old technology.

Best regards, Hermann Scharfetter (2022-10-30)

Very clear IDs from Radio Nigeria 594 kHz at 1900utc.
Programme in local language followed.
Low background noise.
Personal First.

Steve Whitt to mwcircle iog (2022-10-30)

1386: confirmed on 29/30 October at 22.00-01.00 UTC all with R.Liberty in Russian, the Ukrainian Security Issue in English was only on 1278,1404 & maybe on 657 & 873.

Rumen Pankov, Sofia, Bulgaria to mwcircle iog (2022-10-30)

Now it’s Ukrainian Radio again there. Yesterday’s issue was probably related to the DST/ST shift, I guess…

Mauno Ritola to MWlist iog (2022-10-30)

In Cartagena there is a signal on 1090 (Blue Radio), but nothing heard on 1300 kHz.
But on 1300 kHz in Bucaramanga you can hear AM Onda 5 Radio.

Yimber Gaviria via Ydun Ritz (2022-10-30)

While on the subject of longwave from Asia, is Turkmenistan still active on 279?  The SDRs in that general area of the world appear to have poor longwave reception, so unable to confirm.  A few years ago Asqabat could occasionally be faintly heard on the UTwente SDR following the final shutdown of co-channel Minsk on that frequency.

Stephen Luce Houston, Texas to WOR iog (2022-10-30)