ARC Newsflash: CFDR Halifax 780 leaving for FM

One of the most consistent TA signals over the years at our radio shack has been that of CFDR Kixx Country 780 out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is now leaving the AM band fór FM. You can read their farewell message on http://www.780kixx.ca/ (Jan Edh, Hudiksvall/ARC)

Recent logging from the radio shack in Fredriksfors by members of Delsbo Radioklubb

Fredriksfors July 27th
Drove out late Sunday night for some listening together with Rolf Larsson and Dan Andersson. But mainly for working with the firewoods to be prepared for the coming winter and hopefully better propagation.We worked hard for some hours in Monday morning and a cubic meter (or more) was stored, but more has to be done.I listened up to a little after 23 UTC. Rather good signals from the Brazilian and some Puervian stations on the tropical band (included 3255, 038 with 6 do Agosto in Xapuri with football. Probably no id however, the football continiued over top of the hour (23) and was later drowned in disturbances.I listened again after 0115 UTC. At first some NA (1660, 1440, 1400, 1390, 1140), the Brazilian on 740 and some WI stations as 1620 (WDHP with BBC WS, nothing from Cuba, nothing from Argentina), 1610 with Miss Scott, 820 TBN and also Bahamas 1540 with a good signal and a religious program from a local church. Later on more southern signals with 920 (Paraguay) amd 950, 1070, 1190, 1350 (Argentina) quite good in peaks. Also something on 1130 and 1030, the later may be with an id for Rio del Plata.Sunrise about 02.10 UTC and the best signals from shortly before 02 up to 02.30. Here is the log:
SW
3255,043 26.7 2257 Radio Educ. 6 do Agosto, Xapuri w. football (tent). No ID on the hour and soon drowned by QRN. JE
MW
West Indies
820 27.7 0120 TBN. Really a remarkable station that comes through regardless of conditions and time of the year. JE
1540 27.7 0145 ZNS Nassau very strong with a sermon from a local church in Nassau. JE
1610 27.7 0130 Caribbean Beacon strong with Melissa Scott. JE
1620 27.7 0130 WDHP, Frederiksted, USVI carrying BBC World Service - no trace of Cuba or Argentina. JE
Latin America
1030 27.7 0227 LS10 Radio del Plata, Ciudad Federal, BA also identifying as ”Radio Mil Trienta” and musical jingle. JE
1130 0212 27.7 CX30 Radio Nacional, Montevideo with news. JE
(Jan Edh, listening in Fredriksfors) JE & DA cutting firewood for the coming winter DX season.

ARC Newsflash; Russia 1494 silent

1494 Krasny Bor, Ryssland is now silent at 2000 UTC (July 25). Then France Info, France Bleu, Greece, Moldavia and Jordania can be heard. Not a trace of Iran. (Bengt Ericson, Växjö, Sweden/ARC)

ARC Newsflash: Sjenica 1602 kHz

On 1602 kHz, July 19 at 2000 UTC a station came up with a Radio Beograd –ID. This was the 1 kW outlet at Sjenica, situated far south near the border of Montenegro. I also checked 882 kHz for Podgorica in Montenegro but without results. They are reported to having reduced their power below the nominal 5 kW. (Bengt Ericson, Växjö, Sweden/ARC)

Summer loggings from the Radio Shack

Fredriksfors July 16th.
For the first time in more than 3,5 month I tried the airwaves in Fredriksfors again (together with Rolf Larsson). Well, it was perhaps as expected (in other words rather lousy).The visits earlier this summer has been to stock up firewood for the coming season. And more is to come, we hope another good season...In the afternoon July 15th there had also been a club meeting for DRAK where mainly the hams had talked about their antennas and BBQ.When I arrived at a later hour only Rolf Larsson was left, and we started to listen after sunset.Up to 23 UTC there were no sign of Brasilian or other TA-signals. On 1566 I looked for the Italian but there was TWR Benin very dominant.Start again 01 UT with a slight ”top” around 02 UTC. Signals on several channels but most of them very weak. Except from the identified ones these could be mentioned: 920 (presumed Paraguay), 950 (Argentina?), 1130 (Spanish with news), 1180 (Rebelde?), 1290 (YV or Murialdo?), 1390, 1400 (religious, could be Harbour Light), 1470, 1500, 1620 (Argentina?).
Logg
Afrika
1566 15.7 2200 TWR Benin dominerade frekvensen. ”Afrikansk” franska. Nästan bara prat. JE
NA
1660 16.7 0140 WWRU Jersey City, NJ med koreanska. Reklamblock 0140. Gick bättre på 265-gradaren än på 285! JE
LA
1070 16.7 0212 LR1 Radio El Mundo Capital federal, BA med ett fint anrop efter nyheter. Morgonens ”bästa” signal. JE
1190 16.7 0200 LR9 Radio America, Capital federal, BA religiös. En stund tidigare spelades ”Video killed a radio star”, kan ju knappast ha varit den eller ”troliga”WLIB. Men ingen lösning. JE
1350 16.7 0205 LS6 Radio Buenos Aires, BA md ett anrop. JE

Radio Nord reunion in Norrköping, Sweden

On May 8th a number of former staff members of Swedish offshore station Radio Nord joined a number of wellknown loved Swedish performers like Lill-Babs, Ann-Louise Hansson, Little Gerhard and others on stage in the De Geer Concert Hall in Norrköping for an evening of radio nostalgia. The event was organized by local promotor Håkan Thornell who also is a great Radio Nord enthusiast. As he stood the entire financial risk himself he may have lost some sleep during the past weeks but he need not have worried as the venue was sold out and even the orchestra-pit had to be used to make room for some extra 80 spectators. Around 1 500 guests attended this evening. Before the trip to Norrköping: Left to right: Pelle Lönndahl (former Radio Nord studio manager), Jan Kotschack (son of station manager Jack Kotschack), Lars Nestius, Lars Branje and Seve Ungermark (all newsmen), Miss Radio Nord, Christina Granberg (now von Scheck).

Of course the list of performers did spark a lot of interest. Many of them were also household names abroad in the 1960s/70s - and to a big extent they still are. But what’s so magical about a radio station that closed down 47 years ago? Obviously many do still remember Radio Nord and saw this event as a big nostalgia trip. Norrköping was within the primary coverage area of the station and many local baby boomers took the opportunity to reminisce the past. But also some younger people were there, who were not even born at the time when Radio Nord ruled the airwaves.

The evening started off with a vintage radio set on the dark stage blasting out the close down of the Swedish national programme as a contrast to Radio Nord. Then followed a very entertaining evening of radio memories interspersed with sets by the popular performers. Several of them had big hits in the Radio Nord charts and one group who made it big thanks to the station was the female sibling trio Göingeflickorna whose song Kära mor was actually banned by the state radio because it was considered too sentimental for the listeners! After being heavily plugged an Radio Nord the single sold in 250 000 copies and after the closure of the station the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation had to lift the ban as the song was requested again and again by the listeners.

On stage at the De Geer Hall, in front left to right: Seve Ungermark, Lennart Atterling (Radio Nord DJ), Lars Branje, Kenneth Agehed (technician).

Although Radio Nord was financed by US investors its programme format was modified from American radio to suit the Swedish listeners. The competition from the state radio was mainly limited to the programme The Gramophone Hour once a week, starting and ending with a march and at the most containing two or three pieces of music that appealed to younger listeners. One of the Radio Nord staff present this evening, newsreader Lars Nestius, spent three years in the USA just before the start of Radio Nord and so had a very good knowledge of American radio. The frequent news bulletins were also something new in Swedish radio and another two former newsmen, Seve Ungermark and Lars Branje were present this evening. Seve and the head of the news department, Björn Fredrik Höijer, started building the news service six months before the start of Radio Nord and were also on the eventful voyage from Copenhagen, where the radio ship m/v Bon Jour was being fitted, to the anchorage just before Christmas 1960. During a storm the ship was abandoned on the high seas following orders by Captain Ohlsson, who incidentally was one of the first to leave his ship….

Radio engineer Owe Sjöström was also on the ship from Copenhagen and he told that he had never been so seasick in his entire life. After this voyage, however, he seem to have been cured and never had any problems since. He was later employed by Radio Caroline to set up the station on the m/v Fredericia, assisted by his former shipmate Jan Gunnarsson. Actually, he played an important part in British offshore radio history as he was approached by Caroline manager Ronan O’Rahilly who was very worried about the competition from Radio Atlanta that was also being fitted out at the Irish port of Greenore. 'If we could just get on the air first and give us five days, then the market will be ours' Ronan said. 'Could you do something about it?'. The result was that the two Swedes went over by a row boat to the other radio ship, now re-named m/v Mi Amigo, and asked to come aboard to have a look at their former working place. This was granted and while Jan was talking to the people on board Owe succeeded to sneak into the transmitter room to make some modifications. What he did was raising the cathode plugs in the final stage tube sockets which made the tubes go dead as soon as the transmitter was switched on. After replacing the tubes the same thing happened again and new tubes had to be ordered from the USA. This gave Radio Caroline the necessary advantage and Radio Atlanta was inevitably left behind. Perhaps not a nice thing to do but it should have become barred after all these years.

A couple of scoops were delivered by the news section: Seve Ungermark was first to announce for Swedish listeners the premier space voyage by a human astronaut, Gagarin. Lars Branje became the first to announce the death of Dag Hammarskjöld in a plane crash in Northern Rhodesia after the item was picked up on short wave. Technician Kenneth Agehed with the Radio Nord patch on his sweater.

The two hours originally planned for the event became almost the double but it seems like those present had a great time. A memorable occasion for nostalgic radio enthusiasts.

Loggings from Fredriksfors April 29-May 3

590 1.5 02.20 VOCM St Johns NL w. 'O'Reilly's Roundup'. QRK3. RFK
666 2.5 0.15 RDP Antena 1, Portugal had a great music mix. QRK 3. RFK
820 2.5 02.35 TBN, Nevis w. religious programming. QRK 3.4. RFK
1130 2.5 02.29 WBBR New York NY w. talk on General Motors' financial problems. QRK. RFK
1390 3.5 02.15 WEGP Presque Isle ME a regular here in our shack. QRK3. RFK
1400 2.5 02.20 CBG Gander NL w. CBC Radio One, feature on various guitar models. QRK3. RFK
4780 30.4 17.42 Radio Djibouti with Koran prayer. CLear audio. QRK3-4. RFK
4790 2.5 03.10 Radio Visión w. lots of hallelujahs. QRK3. RFK
5945 2.5 08.00 Bible Voice carrying a 15 min. programme from 'Christ Gospel Broadcast'. QRK3-4. RFK
6220.02 29.4 21.09 Mystery Radio w. jingle ID and good musix mix. QRK3. RFK
6300.02 1.5 17.38 Delta Radio, Dutch pirate w. Dutch songs. QRK 3-4. RFK
7110 30.4 18.05 Radio Ethiopia w. lots of talk on 'Horn of Africa'. QRK 3. RFK
7145.08 30.4 16.55 Radio Hargeisa with echo effects on the speech. QRK3. RFK
7175 30.4 17.30 Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea with news. QRK3. RFK
7275 1.5 17.15 REE w. feature on the group Audience. QRK4. RFK