MALAWI BC on 1404.
Presumed MBC-R1 heard here yesterday (Apr. 24th) with fair signal at some moments but with quick fading and strong QRM from Romania. Mostly african music heard. Best signal between 2230 and 2245 UTC.
73! Mauricio Molano to mwcircle iog (2023-04-25)
I’ve just left Malawi, Mauricio, and MBC is fairly close to 1404.0183, but it is quite a wanderer, as it varied between 1404.019 at 1900UT on 21 April and 1404.023 at 0330UT the following morning on 22 April.
Nick Hall-Patch to mwcircle iog (2023-04-25)
Yes, on the night of the big geom. storm, 23 April I have the carrier on 1404.022 kHz. Tonight no carrier visible there. Nick, were all the MBC stations on?
Best regards, Mauno Ritola to mwcircle iog (2023-04-25)
Blantyre on 756 appears to be off, Mauno. Nothing was heard from either Liwonde or Zomba, and in Liwonde, only Iran was heard on 756. On my last visit, Blantyre was audible from Lilongwe, further north than those two locations.
The MBC transmitting site for Blantyre still seems to have the tower in place, but I was on a schedule, so wasn’t able to stop and investigate further. As Blantyre is the commercial centre of Malawi, it seems odd that the AM’s disappearance wouldn’t have been noticed, although perhaps intentional with a move to FM? Speculation of course.
As for other MBC transmitters, that may have to wait until I return to Canada to go through the files more carefully, though 540 and 1422 were pretty powerful at Liwonde and Zomba.
Best wishes, Nick Hall-Patch to mwcircle iog (2023-04-26)