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Most regular Cuban DX in this area?
- Thread starter Wimmmex
- Start date
RHC does not program English or anything else on MW.
It's been a long time since I've been down that way. I was in Sarasota for a month or so in 1980 and Cuba was all over the dial, but they were using much higher power.
I moved from St. Petersburg, last month, but was there last week and checked the AM dial and 640 came in loud and clear from Cuba (Havana to St Pete is almost an all water path)….640 when in SP and parts of Tampa come in very well day and night, even though WVLG 640 from The Villages is 88 miles away, but WVLG’s 930 watts day cannot compete with the much more powerful 640 out of Cuba; also 590 comes in, though not as well as 640. 530,590, 600, 880, and 1620 also come in with fair reception as well as their 1180 (reception almost as good as 640) which I believe it mainly as powerful as it is, to block radio Marti broadcasting from Marathon, in the Florida keys.
Almost forgot, that Cuba’s 570 can sometimes be heard under the local 570 during the day and always heard underneath the local 570AM at night.
The 1180 "station" is actually a bunch of stations... 39 of them per WRTH 2021. Because Cuba is over 800 miles from East to West, it takes many stations to seal each frequency. 710 has 8 of them, and 670 has 15... 1140 has 11.
A few years back, the Chinese did a project to replace the old Czech transmitters which were mostly installed in the 60's and 70's. They also redesigned the transmitter sites, with many having 3 or 4 signals on single towers via diplexing. The national networks have transmitters for every area of the country, and there are regional networks of fewer stations and a couple of local stations, too.
570 only has two stations on it, Radio Rebelde at Pilón-Siguanea and Radio Reloj at Santa Clara.
Thanks for the info on the “chain” of stations on the various frequencies and to be honest, I now remember reading that before on this board, but had forgotten. Just curious do you know if TV Marti-used to be VHF channel 13, is still on the air? I do know about the width of Cuba, having sailed around it, courtesy of the U.S. Navy, on the way to Gitmo.
Yes, I was was active duty but the dxing part was dismal; this was a last minute scheduling change, we were originally going to Roosevelt Roads, PR , then at the very last minute when we were about to moor in Gitmo; another change of plans and I never set foot there, we ended up in Roosevelt Roads as originally scheduled. Oh and in my haste, I left my good DX radio back at NAS Mayport (FL) and had to borrow a not so good radio, but what very little time I had to dx, I was surprised at the stations from the Tampa/St Pete area I was able to get; not the ones I expected, also IIRC correctly I was able to listen to WGBS- 710 some (back before the chain of stations on 710) and WQAM, 560 was weak but receivable, WFUN 790, not at all.
Doubtful. The Cuban government jams Miami Spanish language broadcasters and Radio Marti by placing Cuba's regular broadcast networks on multiple transmitters across the island. It's not likely any English language broadcaster that gets through really has listeners. David Eduardo would be able to speak more to that
That's generally correct.
Cuba has several hundred AM stations covering a territory that is just over 800 miles long. Each city and rural area has an outlet for the national networks as well as regional and local ones. There are so many that they block nearly every frequency; the only empty channels are a few above 1300 where it is unlikely that there would be good reception in Cuba of any American station.
There are 15 cities with over 100,000 people and 25 with over 50,000. If you include surrounding areas, the count is higher. There are 75 cities between 20,000 and 50,000. Generally, unless two towns are next to each other, they all have the full complement of stations.
Cuba does not jam most frequencies. The only ones they have ever been concerned with are 710, 1140, 1180 and, recently 670. On those channels they may have 10 to 20 stations, all on one national network, blocking a US station besides giving local service. In the past, they jammed 1160, the Swan Island pseudo-CIA station called Radio Swan and, later, Radio Americas.
Getting back to the original question, Radio Reloj comes in very well on 570 throughout eastern Florida except near WQAM, and throughout western Florida on 950. I have compared them to WWV and CHU, and they are noticeably better for time calibration than consumer cellphones or GPS receivers. I cannot say the same thing about their web presence.
I'm always impressed when the Radio Reloj newscaster makes sure each news story ends a couple of seconds before the next time signal. Some do it great. Others, not so well. Those newscasters often have to speed up at the end and still step on the time signal. I also notice that some hours on weekdays have two anchors. Other times, a single anchor solos.
Women are not yet at parity with male anchors. Most U.S. and Canadian all-news stations have roughly equal male and female voices. But Radio Reloj only has a few women. I don't think I ever hear a woman solo.
Women are not yet at parity with male anchors. Most U.S. and Canadian all-news stations have roughly equal male and female voices. But Radio Reloj only has a few women. I don't think I ever hear a woman solo.
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