MW still in service.
The RTRS Far East Regional Centre still operates a network of synchronised transmitters broadcasting on 756 kHz to cover the territories of Khabarovsk, Kamchatka and Chukotka with the station Vostok Rossii (Russian Far East).
This synchronised network comprises medium-wave transmitters at Berezovy 5 kW, Bikin 5 kW, Bogorodskoye 5 kW, Chegdomyn 5 kW, De Kastri 5 kW, Khabarovsk 20 kW, Komsomolsk-on-Amur 20 kW, Krasnoye 20 kW, Nikolayevsk-on-Amur 5 kW, Troitskoye 5 kW, Tsimmermanovka 5 kW, Vyazemsky 5 kW.
This is a unique example in Russia, given that all broadcasts in this band have been discontinued for budgetary reasons.
There are several reasons for this exception: the region’s specific characteristics, its greater autonomy from Moscow, and the desire of the Ministry of Information of the Khabarovsk Territory to reduce the influence of foreign radio stations broadcasting in Russian.
A major modernisation programme, planned for nearly ten years, has been delayed. Officials planned to convert the entire medium-wave broadcasting network to digital format. According to them, “this change should increase population coverage by 10 to 15 per cent and significantly improve broadcast quality. They hoped that with ‘digitisation’, the percentage of broadcasting coverage would rise to 98 per cent”.
The regional government wanted to go even further and use shortwave to cover remote areas. The system was to comprise two 50 kW transmitters capable of operating from 4.21 to 10.48 MHz. The horizontally polarised antennas would be directed towards north-eastern Russia, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Strait and the Far North.
In March of this year, the project was revived: specialists from the RTRS Far East Regional Centre launched a major upgrade of the broadcasting network of the Vostok Rossii radio station in Khabarovsk Krai.
The installation of new equipment has begun at broadcasting centres in Bikin, Vyazemskoye, Kotikovo and other towns in the region.
The modernisation of the network is being carried out on the initiative of the Khabarovsk Krai government and the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications.
The details of this modernisation are not known, but according to the authorities, it will significantly expand the station’s coverage area and improve signal quality for residents of the region.
It is planned to commission 55 FM broadcasting stations between November 2026 and December 2027.
Will they finally digitise the medium wave band, keep it as it is, or replace it with FM? What about the shortwave project?
Radio Magazine on Facebook (2026-03-17)