Midday Medium Wave Magic
Medium wave reception during daylight hours is normally considered a difficult challenge. During the day, the ionospheric D-layer absorbs most skywave signals, leaving groundwave propagation as the main way for medium wave signals to travel beyond local distances.
For that reason, I was quite surprised on August 7, 2026, between 09:00 and 09:30 UTC, when I used my small Amnvolt receiver (version 2.33) outdoors in the dunes at Rindby Strand on the Danish island of Fanø. The island is located in the Wadden Sea, close to the North Sea. Using only a tiny, affordable handheld receiver and its telescopic antenna under an open sky, I scanned the medium wave band to see what could be heard in these unusually quiet surroundings.
What made it interesting was not only the number of stations received, but the strength and stability of many of the signals. Some of the transmitters were located several hundred kilometres away, with the longest paths approaching 1000 km, yet they arrived as surprisingly powerful signals despite the fact that the reception took place in the middle of the day.
My listening position at Rindby Strand is located in the outer dune belt of Fanø, directly exposed towards the North Sea. The paths from many British transmitters cross mainly open sea rather than dry land.
At medium wave frequencies, the sea can be an efficient conductor for groundwave propagation. Instead of the signal being weakened by poor-conducting terrain, the North Sea provides a very favourable path for radio waves travelling along the surface. Maybe the sea itself became part of the receiving system.
Another factor is the low level of local radio noise. Modern environments are filled with sources of electromagnetic interference from electronic equipment, LED lighting, switching power supplies and many other devices. Moving the receiver outdoors and away from these sources can make a big difference, especially on the medium wave band where noise can be the greatest limitation.
I noted which stations could be received during this short period and wanted to explore how much difference a quiet location, an open sky and a favourable geographical position can make.
It became a reminder that successful radio reception is not only about antennas and receiver sensitivity. Sometimes an important part of the receiving system is the landscape around you.
From a small island in the North Sea, with nothing more than a tiny, affordable handheld receiver and a telescopic antenna, the surrounding sea provided a surprisingly effective pathway for medium wave signals.
The information about the stations’ locations and transmitter powers was taken from www.mwlist.org. Since several of the stations broadcast on the same frequencies, I could not always be certain of the exact transmitter locations. Where different transmitter powers were listed, I consistently used the highest power given for each station.
1395 kHz Happy AM 24 h, Middelburg, Holland 0,1 kW – 550 km
1098 kHz Radio Seebreeze 24 h, Laren, Holland – 0,1 kW – 410 km
1089 kHz TalkSport 24 h, Moorside Edge, UK – 200 kW – 690 km
1071 kHz TalkSport 24 h, Wrekenton, UK – 1 kW – 630 km
1053 kHz TalkSport 24 h, Droidwich, UK – 150 kW – 770 km
909 kHz BBC Radio 5 Live 24 h, Westerglen, UK 50 kW – 760 km
810 kHz BBC Radio Scotland, Burghead, UK – 25 kW – 775 km
693 kHz BBC Radio 5 Live 24 h, Start Point, UK – 80 kW – 1000 km
648 kHz Radio Caroline, Orfordness, UK – 25 kW – 580 km
Søren Dippel (2026-08-09)