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Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
The site is 80 years old, home to the oldest shortwave broadcast antennas in the U.K. And on Tuesday, they'll be powered up again for a broadcast to North America, so hams (and other listeners) can tune it in.
"The special anniversary transmission can be heard on Tuesday, 17th October at 1.30 UTC/GMT on 17785 kHz for Europe (analogue), 11725 kHz for Europe (DRM digital radio) and 15245 kHz for North America (historic transmitter).
"The broadcast to North America will use the oldest transmitter at the site, a British-designed and built Marconi BD272 dating from 1963, which is maintained in working condition."
If I've figured this out right, that would be 9:30 PM Eastern time.
There's not much on the shortwave dial these day, put out of business mostly by streaming on the Internet. But for those who still have those frequencies on their radios, this is your chance to hear a special broadcast aimed directly at you.
Historic shortwave radio transmitter site celebrates 80 years
- andysradio
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Re: Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
9:30 AM. 13:30 UT. They may use 15300 instead because China is on 15245. Also to be clear, Woofferton as it is known is still in daily use
- turkeytop
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Re: Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
RadioActive wrote:
The site is 80 years old, home to the oldest shortwave broadcast antennas in the U.K. And on Tuesday, they'll be powered up again for a broadcast to North America, so hams (and other listeners) can tune it in.
"The special anniversary transmission can be heard on Tuesday, 17th October at 1.30 UTC/GMT on 17785 kHz for Europe (analogue), 11725 kHz for Europe (DRM digital radio) and 15245 kHz for North America (historic transmitter).
"The broadcast to North America will use the oldest transmitter at the site, a British-designed and built Marconi BD272 dating from 1963, which is maintained in working condition."
If I've figured this out right, that would be 9:30 PM Eastern time.
There's not much on the shortwave dial these day, put out of business mostly by streaming on the Internet. But for those who still have those frequencies on their radios, this is your chance to hear a special broadcast aimed directly at you.
Historic shortwave radio transmitter site celebrates 80 years
Great. Thanks for posting.
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
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Re: Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
9:30 AM. 13:30 UT. They may use 15300 instead because China is on 15245. Also to be clear, Woofferton as it is known is still in daily use
Thank you. The site I used to check this said PM but as I think of it now, that doesn't make any sense since they're so many hours ahead of us. But it's too bad, as well. The propagation during the day isn't as good, so who knows if it will come in.
Also, I didn't mean to give the impression this was the final time this array would be used, only that they were doing a worldwide special from the oldest site in the U.K. to mark the anniversary.
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Thread Starter- andysradio
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Re: Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
The propagation during the day isn't as good, so who knows if it will come in.
No it should work fine BUT listeners will need a good shortwave antenna and a reasonably quiet listening location. The good news is the programme will be available on line via the World Radio Network.
Last edited by andysradio (October 16, 2023 3:16 pm)
- turkeytop
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Re: Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
Right now at 0145 GMT I'm tuned to 15245 KHZ. Not a sound.
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
- andysradio
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Re: Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
They are on air now with a pretty good signal but I only find them on 17785
- andysradio
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Re: Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
15245 came on late
Last edited by andysradio (October 17, 2023 9:33 am)
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Re: Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
15245 came on late
15245 is putting out an OK signal at my location, outside of a bit of occasional fading. But 17785 is almost non-existent for me.
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Thread Starter- andysradio
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Re: Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
It was an interesting program listening to all the staff who work and have worked there over the years. What a shame BBC World Service no longer broadcasts to North America using Wooferton [or any other site] Today's transmission proved that the technology still works just fine.
Listening to the loop of interval signals at the end of the show brought back some memories!
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Re: Last U.K Shortwave Antennas Powered Up Tues. For Worldwide Special
Once in a while I pick up one of their transmissions targeting a different part of the world. Of, course, I don't repot it. If they found out we were listening, they'd shut it down.
I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.