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Old 24th Feb 2020, 11:26 pm   #1
Tim
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Default Spanish station on 612KHz MW

Hi all.


While investigating possible REIN on a customers broadband last Friday, I had the van radio tuned to 612KHz MW, as it is often possible to hear some types of interference.
This frequency is usually quiet, but on this occasion a Spanish station was coming in quite clearly. I didn't understand a word of it of course.
Has anyone noticed a change in receiving conditions during the latest period of this awful weather?
For all I know this might be nothing remarkable, but I haven't heard it before, or indeed any MW station from that far south.


Location Knook, Near Codford St.Mary Wiltshire
Time about 15.30
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Old 25th Feb 2020, 12:09 am   #2
Jolly 7
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

I haven't done any serious MW listening/ DXing so far this winter. However, reception of many Spanish including other European and some Middle Eastern and North African stations is normal in the Southampton area after dusk, often without a loop or longwire antenna. I just tuned in and was able to receive a Spanish station on 612 kHz, which could be from either of the two 10 KW transmitters belonging to Radio Nacional de Espana.
This is a good season to listen to medium wave. The sunspot numbers also ought to be pretty low at present as we are at the trough of the 11 year solar cycle.
PostScript: I just checked the space weather website, the sunspot number is currently zero !

Last edited by Jolly 7; 25th Feb 2020 at 12:16 am. Reason: Sunspot number
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Old 25th Feb 2020, 2:04 pm   #3
G6Tanuki
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

Have a look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...e_transmitters if you're interested in trying for a few more stations.

This winter I've heard quite a few bits of "MW DX", some of which I tentatively identified as being Moroccan and Algerian.

The progressive closedown of MW broadcasting in the UK and near-UK countries has made MW DXing rather more interesting again, since that 'interesting' Polish station you want to hear is no longer hidden underneath yet another simulcast of BBC Radio Borsetshire.
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Old 25th Feb 2020, 5:14 pm   #4
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

Exactly what is this fixation on 612KHz and REIN?
Is their any scientific reason for this choice?
If there was, wouldn't it be different for the various flavours of ADSL and VDSL?

Or is it simply because 612KHz is relatively clear of broadcast activity.
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Old 25th Feb 2020, 5:40 pm   #5
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

I would imagine that by its very nature REIN would be wideband, so any frequency (within reason) would do. But obviously a clear MW frequency would probably be favourite as most people have easy access to a suitable receiver and a portable with a ferrite rod aerial would give some DF-ing ability.
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Old 25th Feb 2020, 6:59 pm   #6
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

What's REIN?
 
Old 25th Feb 2020, 7:20 pm   #7
Tim
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

Repetitive Electrical Impule Noise
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Old 25th Feb 2020, 9:38 pm   #8
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

During the spell of very high pressure (that sent my barometer off the scale) a few weeks back I noticed that Caroline was unusually strong on 648kHz in the daytime.

I normally associate high pressure with VHF 'lift' conditions - this is the first time I've noticed a potentially associated effect on AM but then I'm not a DXer and all the BBC national stations are only a few miles away at Droitwich so always solid.

Having said that I was listening to Manx one night on my little Grundig - it had remained tuned to 1368 since a Caroline North broadcast - and when Manx went into a long deep fade I could hear another very weak station slightly off frequency. I tuned it (not enough to be 9kHz away) and could discern the music but not the speech. As 1368 is a clear frequency now I suspect I might have been hearing something from across the pond.

Last edited by Junk Box Nick; 25th Feb 2020 at 10:08 pm. Reason: typo
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Old 25th Feb 2020, 10:01 pm   #9
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

I used to have a late 60s car radio by my bed when I was a lad. I can’t remember the make( Philips I think but not certain) running from a simple dc power supply I had knocked up from an old train set transformer. It drove a pair of headphones through an output transformer connected “ backwards( output of radio to secondary, headphones driven from primary) and I used to listen to all sorts of stations on MW at night.
It may have had an RF amp early in the front end-which believe was common at the time.
The aerial was simply a 6’ piece of wire clipped to a metal curtain track.
I heard all sorts on that, even something from America a couple of times. ISTR ( but don’t know why)it was some religious station, that I later discovered operated an extremely powerful transmitter.
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Old 26th Feb 2020, 10:25 am   #10
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim View Post
'I heard all sorts on that, even something from America a couple of times. ISTR ( but don’t know why)it was some religious station, that I later discovered operated an extremely powerful transmitter.'
Religious stations are the broadcasters with the most money, and they kept Skelton going on HF when the BBC output was getting thinner and thinner.

Of course, the BBC didn't ask their listeners for money to keep the message going like the religious stations did. Maybe they should have?
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Old 28th Feb 2020, 4:26 pm   #11
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

I always understood that N. American MW stations were limited to 50kW max. o/p by FCC(USA) and equivalent Canadian regulations. There are/were some 'clear channels' on which only a few stations were permitted to broadcast. One was 'Clear Channel 650' whose principal occupant was (still is?) WSM in Nashville, Tenn. - the home of the 'Grand Ole Opry' for maybe 90 years now. It's just possible that WSM has been heard in the UK or Europe, as it's 650kHz frequency would be 2kHz HF of the nearest European Channel (648kHz) these days only occupied by R. Caroline's 1kW transmitter in Suffolk, though I've never managed to hear WSM.
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Old 28th Feb 2020, 5:21 pm   #12
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

Hi Tim

This is the time of year for longer range reception of MF signals particularly at night

Although I am not a broadcast listener, I regularly hear the OZN Beacon in
Greenland on 372 kHz.

Much nearer to your 612kHz frequency I heard Amateur beacon OK0EMW
on 505.06 kHz a couple of nights ago for the first time this winter running
just 0.98 watts ERP from Czechia, so a broadcast station in Spain is not too
difficult.

Kind regards
Dave
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Old 2nd Mar 2020, 12:09 am   #13
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

I know my friend in Skegness regularly "logs" WSM 650. I say "logs" as his only criterion for logging is by hearing a familiar station ToH announcement or by comparison with a webstream. They will not be "listenable" in England, and he doesn't sit up all night anymore now he has a Perseus or something to record the whole MW band to his PC overnight, then skim through next day looking for carrier traces emerging out of the noise. If any sidebands show up you can check for intelligible audio, but you may only recognise syllabic patterns or a pop record. He uses a delta loop or BoG antenna with a phasing control.

On the NW coast of Scotland they will be listenable on a good night via grayline propagation
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Old 2nd Mar 2020, 11:47 am   #14
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Default Re: Spanish station on 612KHz MW

Is REIN interference another way to describe the electronic noise we all experience across much of the AM bands these days? Like many I suffer this from a host of cheap and nasty electronics both in my house and from the neighbours plus about three old and noisy Plasma TV's in the surrounding houses. But I do find that the levels of noise is not uniform across the bands with some parts of the medium wave band totally swamped out but other parts totally quiet. With the cut offs incredibly sharp.
Night time medium wave propagation is not affected by the weather, its all down to the conditions and state of the night time E Layer region of the ionosphere some 50-70 miles above our heads.
During the day when the skywaves are absorbed by the lower D layer region of the ionosphere, 30-40 miles up many have noticed improved ground wave reception during wet spells of weather due to lower ground wave losses when the ground is saturated as it is at the moment,
On 612KHz there are two Spanish 10Kw transmitters operating on this frequency both carrying the RNE Nacional programme.
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