Month: April 2023

Japan

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AFN’s talk radio station on Okinawa will be offline until June for tower repairs.

Fans on Okinawa of the American Forces Network will be without AM talk radio for several more weeks as the military broadcaster continues with station repairs.
SURF 648 AM, sister station to AFN’s WAVE 89.1 FM, went off the air March 21 so crews could repair a support wire for the station’s radio tower, AFN spokesman John Clearwater told Stars and Stripes in a recent email.
Maintenance crews are working to repair the wire so programming can resume by June 1.

“The radio tower is having contracted repairs done to fix a broken guy wire,” Clearwater said. “It’s a critical piece of repair, and the reason we had to temporarily shut down transmission.”

The island’s AFN station sits atop a hill in the Plaza Housing area of Camp Foster in Chatan. It began broadcasting to U.S. troops as Far East Network Okinawa on May 17, 1945, Clearwater said.

The AM channel offers an alternative to the music-based WAVE 89.1 FM and features popular programs from U.S. broadcasters like National Public Radio, Sports Overnight America and various political commentators.

Maintenance on the radio tower was first announced in a March 20 post on the AFN Okinawa Facebook page. A guy wire is a tensioned cable that adds stability to a free-standing structure, like a radio tower.

“AFN radio broadcasting on Surf 648 and 89.1 FM serves to entertain and inform audiences with the same top-rated programming available to stateside listeners,” Clearwater said.

The station also provides critical news and information during natural disasters like typhoons.

Talk programming is still accessible through the AFN Go application, available in the Apple App Store and from Google Play, and also from the AFN Okinawa website, Clearwater said.
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2023-04-26/afn-talk-radio-station-okinawa-9922328.html?fbclid=IwAR1W_Vajzc2Vh9pV9ou0euxe7buDqDW_SJR_0lVTW78tNDIJS475k_7gT0s

Mike Terry to mwcircle iog (2023-04-26)

Malawi

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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)

Longwave

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Remaining LW broadcast countries according to WRTH 2023

153 Romania
162 France (TDF time signal)
164 Mongolia
171 Morocco
189 Iceland
198 UK
209 Mongolia
225 Poland
227 Mongolia
243 Denmark
252 Algeria

Mike Terry to Longwaveradiolistening iog (2023-04-25)

Italy

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Unidentified italian stations.
There is an unlisted station on 1359 kHz that I daily monitor while commuting to the office. They are located south of Milano, somendirection finding with a portable receiver suggests Siziano area, but I am not 100% sure. Their programs are quite odd: mornings they transmit endless philosophical talks (the concept of time according to Spinoza, etc…) while in the afternoon they switch to rap music. I don’t know if they are active also at night or during weekends, they are too weak to
be heard from my home. Up to now no IDs at all.

Another station appeared since a month or so on 1575, irregularly active but since three days it seems to be always on. They transmit no stop music ( jazz, folk, easy listening, etc.), but again no IDs. I don’t know if it is the same station that appeared a few months ago on 1485 with an endless carillon, and disappeared after few days. I hope to DF them in the next days,  if they keep on transmitting. It is however not far from here, since it can be heard quite well during daytime.

Vittorio some km out of Milano (2023-04-24)

Canada

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Total MW absence as well into Masset.
So, here’s the 10 kHz (ie North American) bandscan overnight into Masset.  Besides the local 930 and 860 (and 1600 from Vancouver), nothing came through overnight into Masset!   Obviously the same for 9 kHz spacing!  Amazing!!!   

Walt Salmaniw to irca iog (2023-04-24)

Australia

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Perth ABC changes.
It seems that the Wanneroo Perth ABC transmitter site is up for sale. This is part of a plan to move the Perth ABCs to FM (presumably from the Bickley transmitter site). No idea when this might happen though. From what I have been able to determine ABC Perth 720, RN  810 and NewsRadio 585 will be allocated 103.3, 104.1 and 104.9 (though in what order I don’t know). As part of this 6SEN 101.7 will also relocate to Bickley and get a power increase from 8 to 16kW.

It appears the FM transition of 6IX and 6PR to FM will be delayed after objections from the existing FM commercial stations.
Unluckily the Perth band plan matches that of Sydney so no chance of 2Es from here to receive them.

https://www.baicommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/8866-Hamersley-Project-Boards-FINAL-Low-Res-20190709.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1iVPXwU7mjp156fZQA_rN1_ayQQo8OQKe6CdfxzkoBJbgsJaIzZbVNLVs

ABC move to FM in Perth is seen as a threat to commercial licences

Richard Jary to ICDX-AM iog (2023-04-24)

Space Weather

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SEVERE GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS: Arriving earlier than expected, a CME hit Earth’s magnetic field today, April 23rd, at 1737 UT. The impact sparked a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm with auroras sighted in Europe sighted as far south as France. The storm is still going on and it is starting to produce visible auroras in the USA as well. Here is a picture from Kentucky! Stay tuned for more auroras as night falls across North America.
https://spaceweather.com/

Ydun Ritz (2023-04-23)

United States

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Augusta Radio Fellowship has cancelled its purchase of Cherokee Broadcasting’s three stations in the southwest corner of North Carolina. Augusta Radio Fellowship was going to pay $550,000 for Oldies “Big 6 Radio” 600 WCVP Murphy, Country/Christian “Pure Country” 95.9 WCVP-FM Robbinsville, and AC 102.7 WCNG Murphy. Also cancelled is the donation of WCNG translator 101.3 W267BC Blairsville GA from John Reynolds to Augusta Radio Fellowship.

Norsan Media expands in Jacksonville FL with the purchase of Christian Preaching “Pure Radio” 1320 WJNJ Jacksonville and translators 92.7 W224EF Orange Park and 103.7 W279AG Atlantic Beach FL from New Covenant Ministries for $700,000.
None of the intellectual property of the current brand is included in the deal as Norsan adds WJNJ to a cluster that includes Regional Mexican “La Raza 92.9” 970 WNNR Jacksonville/92.9 W225BI Stockade and 1570 WVOJ/92.3 W222CL Fernandina Beach, Spanish AC “Latina 92.1” WJXR MacClenny and 1160 WEWC/97.5 W248CT Callahan, and Hispanic Rhythmic “Flow 105.3” WYKB Fernandina Beach.
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/251306/station-sales-week-of-4-21/

Lance Venta, RadioInsight (2023-04-21)