Month: December 2022

United States

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Winter storms may affect broadcasters.
KDKA 1020 is running special storm programming all day according message on their morning show (The Big K Morning Show) heard at 1050utc.

Steve Whitt, mwcircle iog on behalf of Darren Hennig (2022-12-23)

United States

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WNJC 1360 AM DX Tests will be going dark in about 30 days. Until then I will be playing a DX test at Midnight EST every night, for 1 hour. This is the Black Coffee DX Test that Les Rayburn created. Sad moment but after 25 years of working on WNJC it may be coming to an end. If the stars align, I may get it back on the air with-in a year otherwise enjoy this last chance to hear WNJC 1360 AM from Washington Twp, NJ.

Duke Hamann, WNJC 1360 AM DX Tests FB group (2022-12-23)

United States

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From the ARRL Letter for December 22, 2022.

“On Christmas Eve, 1906, Canadian inventor, experimenter, and entrepreneur Reginald Fessenden claimed to have made his first voice — and music — broadcast from Brant Rock, Massachusetts, although his account of the event over the years has been disputed. Nonetheless, Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, of Forest, Virginia, will make his annual program recreation on 486 kHz to commemorate Fessenden’s accomplishments.
Justin will broadcast for 24 hours beginning at 1800 UTC on December 24, with a repeat transmission on New Year’s Eve, beginning at 1800 UTC, as Fessenden was reported to have done on both nights in 1906. Justin will transmit on 486 kHz, under authority of his FCC Part 5 Experimental License WI2XLQ, using equipment substantially more modern than Fessenden’s gear. Justin will use a home-brew setup to achieve Heising modulation similar to what was used in amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions during World War I. Justin explained that Fessenden’s transmitter was a high-speed alternator, a predecessor to the Alexanderson Alternator still in use today at the historic Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden. Modulation then was achieved using a carbon microphone, but Justin will use a laptop computer for his audio broadcast. Justin said there is a cult-like following of amateur radio and shortwave listeners who tune in for the annual broadcast. Justin has been licensed since 1976 and is an ARRL Life Member.”

In 2021 I created an eQSL for Brian to use when comfirming reception of the special transmissions on 486 kHz. An example of the eQSL is at https://www.kg4lac.com. I am unsure if Brain will continue using the eQSL I created for him for this year’s reception reports.

Kraig to WOR iog (2022-12-23)

United States

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“States of emergency declared
The governors of Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia and Oklahoma have declared states of emergency. The city of Buffalo, New York has declared an emergency as well, and will be closing its schools on Friday.
Other states, like Maryland, have activated emergency response operations ahead of the storm, while others have opened warming shelters.
In Colorado, the Denver Coliseum, an indoor arena, has been converted into a warming centre.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden said his administration has contacted the governors of 26 affected states and that the federal government is prepared to offer help where needed.
He also encouraged people to avoid travelling as the conditions worsen. “Please take this storm extremely seriously,” Mr Biden said.“

This might means some stations are forced off air (that could be due loss of electricity or by snow drifts burying the bases of antenna masts; heavy snow can stop satellite feeds to transmitter sites due to snow filling dishes) or decide to operate on higher power or extended hours or with special programming.

Steve Whitt to mwcircle iog (2022-12-22)

Netherlands

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This Christmas weekend I am planning a DX weekend, a few times a year I am transmitting 24 hours a day for DX purposes.
Maybe somebody is interested in receiving my LPAM hobby radio station Album AM 846 kHz from the Netherlands.
For this DX event a morse ID jingle “Album AM” will be transmitted every 15 minutes or so and interspersed with other English jingles.
Reports to  radio@albumAM.nl

René, Uden, The Netherlands, Album AM 846 kHz www.albumam.nl (2022-12-23)

United States

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From WDWS employee Stan Olson, K9SWX:

WDWS 1400am Champaign, IL is having trouble staying on the air due to ice and bad weather here in central Illinois. A rare chance to DX 1400 for central Illinois DXers!

Sean Kutzko Amateur Radio KX9X to irca iog (2022-12-22)

Iceland

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Winter solstice bandscan 2022.
Last night’s weather was snowy and blowy. Rather than risk the radio, I decided to crawl into bed and look for some comfort under the comforter.

Tonight’s weather was calm with broken clouds. I went outside ca. 2115Z with the Panasonic radio. The LW band was pretty normal except for Allouis being noisy enough to make the crossmodulation inaudible, and Gufuskálar (189 kHz) actually being inaudible.

The MW band… it was weak. I had to turn up the volume on even the British senders. I think I heard a faint peep from Smooth Radio on 1161 kHz. I only made one round across the band due to lack of hot chocolate indoors.

Reynir Heidberg Stefansson (2022-12-22)

United States

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WGY [810 kHz] in Schenectady, N.Y., celebrated its centennial birthday this year, one of several dozen pioneer broadcasting stations that crossed the 100-year finish line in 2022.

Though all these stations are notable for their endurance and importance to the industry, WGY stands tall for contributing to the science of broadcasting, particularly in its first decade of its operation. For that reason Radio World is ending the year with this special photo essay about the station.

WGY began life as the flagship station of the General Electric Company, operating from G.E.’s massive campus in Schenectady. At that time, G.E. was a veritable cradle of radio technology, and WGY was nursed by some of the world’s most capable engineers and scientists, among them Dr. E.F.W. Alexanderson, Dr. Charles Steinmetz, Irving Langmuir and A.D. Ring. 

The whole story here https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/roots-of-radio/wgy-a-centennial-radio-station?

By John Schneider, Radio World (2022-12-21)

Morocco

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I have read that plans for SNRT Al Idaâ Al-Watania Morocco to open up using 400 kW on 207 kHz LW in near future.

The planned station is already on MW quite strong at night on 2 of the 3 frequencies, 540 & 596, small power on 612 kHz. However as i read which i haven’t seen before on the MWList quick and easy say’s it is planned and for 2 x 400 kW power.

Adam Birchenall to mwcircle FB group (2022-12-22)