Radio History

Ireland

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40th anniversary of Irish pirate raids.
It’s 40 years this week since a major clampdown on Irish pirate radio when Dublin stations Radio Nova and Sunshine Radio were raided by the authorities. Due to the high power of Radio Nova in particular, both stations were heard on the west coast of Britain on AM and sometimes on FM. Listen back here to recordings of that dramatic period on the Irish pirate radio archive Pirate.ie by clicking here:
https://pirate.ie/archive/tags/1983-raids/

Forwarded from John Walsh. bdxc-news May 19th via WOR iog (2023-05-23)

Czechia

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Google translated from German / Ed
https://www.radioeins.de/programm/sendungen/medienmagazin/radio_news/beitraege/2021/radio_dechovka.html

The medium wave transmitter Zbraslav, on the southern outskirts of Prague, will soon be closed. That’s why there’s another special campaign there. It refers to the 100th birthday, which Czech radio can now also celebrate.

From May 18, 12:00 p.m., the frequency 1233 kHz will be switched on again for exactly 24 hours. On the 100th anniversary of the official launch of Radiožurnál, it will broadcast Radio Dechovka‘s program for the last time.

The three pylons hidden in the forest are characteristic of the Zbraslav station. There are no concrete statements on the pressing question of whether one of them was included in the 720 kHz blocking of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty until 1988.

In any case, in the past two transmitters, each with an output of 40 kW, were used for regular program operation. One of these was broadcasting regional broadcasts on 792 kHz in daylight.

A special feature in the 1980s was the extension on Friday and Sunday afternoons. Then, under the name of the traffic radio service Zelená vlna (“Green Wave”), came a magazine with a particularly high proportion of music and traffic reports from a helicopter belonging to the police authorities, which were known as the militia at the time.

In recent years, such a single-frequency network has been set up again in a different configuration and with lower power. Radio Dechovka (“Brass”) was broadcast, presenting brass band music and broadcasts of folk music without brass.

In 2016, Radio Dechovka also took over the 792 kHz frequency. As can be seen on this page, enthusiasts reactivated the Stěžery radio station near Hradec Kralové after more than a decade.

Radio Dechovka can no longer afford medium wave 1233 kHz due to a massive price increase since March 2021. That left only their own transmitter on 792 kHz and the transmitter near Prague where everything began in 2014.

This makeshift in Líbeznice is a joint work with Radio Impuls, which broadcasts its nostalgic program with music from the Czechoslovak era here on 981 kHz. Now Radio Dechovka is again broadcasting from there; for broadcasting reasons on the new frequency 1260 kHz and for cost reasons only with low power.

After Radio Dechovka was discontinued, one broadcast remained in Zbraslav: that of Country Radio on the subsequently developed frequency of 1062 kHz. Between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. it can only run at 1 kW instead of 20, since the privileged use of the frequency in Denmark must be protected during these hours.

That still applies, although it is definitely only a theory. In 2009, Kalundborg station finally stopped broadcasting on 1062 kHz. The antenna was eliminated three years later.

With the planned closure of the Zbraslav location, it will inevitably no longer be possible to broadcast Country Radio. There’s an interesting replacement under discussion here, though not confirmed yet.

Kai Ludwig, Radioeins Medienmagazin

Ireland

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The rise of Atlantic 252 caused no little upset to the UK radio bigwigs in the 1990s.
WHEN RTÉ’S LONG Wave 252 transmitter shuts down tomorrow, it brings to an end a lengthy history of our national broadcaster using powerful radio signals to reach the Irish diaspora in Britain.
But that’s not the only story that 252 was involved in, as it also spent more than a decade as a highly successful “border blaster” pop station and caused no little upset to commercial radio bigwigs in the UK.
Steve Conway in https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/atlantic-252-steve-conway-longwave-shutdown-6043078-Apr2023/

Mike Terry to Longwaveradiolistening iog (2023-04-14)

Romania

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Recent Radio Developments in Europe

An outline map of the European country of Romania, 430 miles long and 320 miles wide, presents the shape of a very irregular circle. Or perhaps, as Google Maps presents Romania, it is formed in the shape of a (Dory) Fish swimming westward.

Romania in Eastern Europe is a land of rugged mountains and verdant plains, multiple river systems and natural forests, modern cities and country villages. The total population is twenty million and the capital city is Bucharest, with its interwoven architectural display of historic edifices, communist era buildings, and modern commercial structures. Romania attracts anywhere up to twenty million tourists a year.

Throughout the centuries, Romania has undergone more than its share of internal and international turmoil. The earliest migrations brought the arrival of ancient Europeans, the Greeks established their colonies, and the Roman armies brought their Latin dialects to the area, from which the modern Romanian language is descendant. On the religious scene, Romania has undergone the influence of early Christianity, Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Islam, and on the political scene, communism and independence. 

Wireless came to Romania quite early, and a 1913 list shows a maritime longwave station at oceanside Constantza on 600 metres (500 kHz) under the self-chosen callsign KST. Station KST was the coastal shore station for a fleet of half a dozen ships in the nearby Black Sea, all of which were operating on the same frequency (500 kHz) though each was operating under its own irregular callsign.

Eleven years later (1924), there were two dozen longwave stations throughout Romania, half of which were installed in various areas of the capital city, Bucharest. By this time, regularized callsigns were in use, with the first two letters CV indicating Romania, followed by two more letters that indicated each specific station. As an example, station CVOB was a civil aviation transmitter located at suburban Baneasa (ba-NAH-sa).

A perusal of the new 2023 WR(TV)HB indicates that there is currently a multitude of FM stations throughout Romania, too many to count. A current list of mediumwave stations in Romania presents a surprising total of many mediumwave stations still on the air in Romania, almost 50 of which were provided by the Harris manufactory in Quincy Illinois in the United States.   

Current information also indicates that Radiocom in Romania plans to install five more mediumwave replacement transmitters which is a clear indication that mediumwave radio is still viable throughout that nation. The five new facilities will be installed at:
Bucharest: 25 kW on 603 kHz
Constant{s}a: 100 kW on 1458 kHz, 50 kW on 1314 kHz, 25 kW on 909 kHz
Oradea: 50 kW on also 603 kHz

Adrian Peterson, IN, script for AWR Wavescan April 30, 2023 via WOR iog (2023-04-11)

Netherlands

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Dutch longwave transmitters.
Several years ago at the Omroepmuseum in Hilversum I bought the book.
Ing. P. Vijzelaar – 70 jaar radio-omroepszenders in Nederland published by Kluwer Teschnische Boeken ISBN 90 201 2522 2   published in 1991

The first private experimental transmitter had the call letters PCGG and operated on 670 m / 448 kHz was in operation until 1924 from a location in The Haggue. Radiated power below 50 watts.
NSF in Hilversum got a license in 1923 and operated on longwave on 1050, 1060, 1071 and 1075 to avaoid interference from foreign stations. Originally on sunday evening with 500 watts. Later 4 kW, in 1925 20 kW. Out of this experimental transmitter grew the time sharing organisations AVRO, VARA, NCRV, KRO and VPRO.
The frequency conference in Prague in 1929 allotted 1875 m / 160 kHz to The Netherlands.A longwave transmitter on 160 kHz was used in Huizen 1927 – 1935 and in Kootwijk 1933 – 1944 with 15 kW. Both were called zender Huzen.A new bandplan of Luzern in 1933 changed the allocation to 223 kHz.
A new frequency plan was discussed in Geneva in 1975. The outcome was the Dutch allocation of long wave 173 kHz (originally intended in co-operation with Belgium in the Delta Plan. The old frequency of 160 kHz was earlier given up in exchange of “exclusive” MW frequencies. Maximum allowed power 500 kW but was never built.

Best regards Karl-Erik Stridh (2023-04-09)

Netherlands

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160 kHz in the Netherlands in the past.
http://www.wabweb.net/radio/radio/lw2.htm

It says that in the 1930, in NL existed a transmitter for LW 160 kHz.
Does anybody here know more?

I found the Luzern wave plan:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzerner_Wellenplan

I also found that ion Dutch:
https://nfor.nl/index.php?mode=thread&id=266671
It says that it moved to Kootwijk. It has been destroyed (TX or antenna or both?), but replaced. In 1950 operation ended.

Marco (2023-04-09)