670

[Icangelp]

I might add, Cubans are still driving the very same automobiles they bought in the early 1960's, a time when they were filling almost every frequency with Soviet gifted high powered transmitters.

 

[davideduardo]

I might add, Cubans are still driving the very same automobiles they bought in the early 1960's, a time when they were filling almost every frequency with Soviet gifted high powered transmitters.

The Czech transmitters were not numerous nor particularly high powered. There was one 300 kw unit, a couple of 120 kw ones, and a half dozen or so 30 kw transmitters out of over 100 AMs in the country.

Those Czech units were not very reliable in the long run, and when the USSR dissolved, the tubes and parts became scarce. Most were modified and are seemingly not running high power.

As to AMs moving to FM, in fact AMs added FM in places like Colombia and Venezuela and the Dominican Republic as well as Central America. While many of the Caribbean islands have reduced AM transmissions and added loads of FMs, such as seen in Jamaica, those were never the auroral / sunspot related invaders that Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia were. And none of those countries has reduced the AM station count... if anything, it has increased.... and there are higer power stations now.

 

[davideduardo]

How much Power does Cuba a little country need??

There's interference problems every where

The country is nearly 800 miles long, like California placed east to west... CA has more stations, and higher powers than all but one or two current Cuban stations. It seems to me that Cuba is really underserved by US standards.

 

[Icangelp]

I might add, Cubans are still driving the very same automobiles they bought in the early 1960's, a time when they were filling almost every frequency with Soviet gifted high powered transmitters.

The Czech transmitters were not numerous nor particularly high powered. There was one 300 kw unit, a couple of 120 kw ones, and a half dozen or so 30 kw transmitters out of over 100 AMs in the country.

Those Czech units were not very reliable in the long run, and when the USSR dissolved, the tubes and parts became scarce. Most were modified and are seemingly not running high power.

As to AMs moving to FM, in fact AMs added FM in places like Colombia and Venezuela and the Dominican Republic as well as Central America. While many of the Caribbean islands have reduced AM transmissions and added loads of FMs, such as seen in Jamaica, those were never the auroral / sunspot related invaders that Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia were. And none of those countries has reduced the AM station count... if anything, it has increased.... and there are higer power stations now.

High power considering, that with one exception, Cuba was not authorized to operate at the powers they were using, and for all I know, some of the frequencies they occupied.

I would argue that for a country with little or no revenue generating activity, at least in the 1960's, Cuba was unusually well served. The 1966 WRTH lists 570 @10KW, 590 @25/15KW, 630 @50KW, 640 @50KW, 690 @50KW, 720 @30KW, 730 @10KW, 740 @10KW, 760 @10KW, 790 @10KW, 830 @10KW, 910 @10KW.

After checking things out, I agree that AM is alive & well in Central and South America, though the split frequencies (with one or two exceptions) are gone. Those splits did help to increase the opportunities for the average DXer, especially in times that favored southern DX.

It seems like yesterday I logged the rare in the midwest, Radio Swan on 1160. What ever happened to the Gibralter Steamship Company? Bought by Princess Cruise Lines? Filed Chapter 7 and faded away?

 

[borderblaster]

I enjoyed DXing from Florida in 1980, both AM and FM (of course pre Docket 80-90 and the influx of new AMs and flea power). All the Cubans I could hear in Ohio at night were there both day and night, especially 600, 630, 640 and 670. 600 carried Radio Moscow starting at 3pm.

WLS did blast in especially around sunset. WOWO was solid mostly at night; it was fun to hear about low temps of 10 degrees while we were in the 70s. WKWF from Key West on 1600 was my best AM catch. Trop on FM from New Orleans, the Panhandle, Miami and Fort Pierce. No complaints.

 

[davideduardo]

High power considering, that with one exception, Cuba was not authorized to operate at the powers they were using, and for all I know, some of the frequencies they occupied.

Early on in the Castro government, the NARBA treaty was abrogated. Cuba did not, after (albeit unilaterally) abrogation, have to respect the allocation system of North America. As is true with every country south of Mexico and most of the nations of the Caribbean, Cuba did not particularly care about interfering with AM stations elsewhere. In a sense, no different that Guatemala putting 10 kw stations on US clears like 720, 700 and 1020.

I would argue that for a country with little or no revenue generating activity, at least in the 1960's, Cuba was unusually well served.

Cuba had considerable economic strength in the 60's, but Fidel's government kind of destroyed that. First, they were a major sugar exporter in a time when that commodity had a high price: They also exported byproducts made of bagaso, the fiber from the cane. And they had nickel reserves, fishing, etc.

Cuba had been crushed by NARBA, and given few decent regional frequencies. Considering the island is nearly 800 miles long, it needed many more 1-B clears and lot's more regionals... but all the earlier southern regionals in the US put their night patterns towards Cuba, making operation less than viable.

The 1966 WRTH lists 570 @10KW, 590 @25/15KW, 630 @50KW, 640 @50KW, 690 @50KW, 720 @30KW, 730 @10KW, 740 @10KW, 760 @10KW, 790 @10KW, 830 @10KW, 910 @10KW.

Many single US markets have comparable facilities. Cuba is the equivalent of a big US state, not a single city.

After checking things out, I agree that AM is alive & well in Central and South America, ...

I just mentioned Colombia and Venezuela, where AM is quite alive. In most of Central America, AM is dead or near death, with station counts way off, and almost all listening on FM. El Salvador has about half the AMs it once had, and half of those are evangelical religious stations. Ecuador is losing AMs at the rate of a couple a month, with less than half still on the air. Chile has seen big 100 kw AMs like Minería turn in the AM license as "unviable." Jamaica has turned off all AMs, and Mexico is turning off about 75% of all AMs.

It seems like yesterday I logged the rare in the midwest, Radio Swan on 1160. What ever happened to the Gibralter Steamship Company? Bought by Princess Cruise Lines? Filed Chapter 7 and faded away?

That was a dummy corporation, bought with CIA money and run out of the offices of AIR, the Asociacion Interamericana de Radiodifusion in downtown Miami a half block south of Flagler on, if I recall, 2nd or 3rd; Ramón Goicochea, the secretary general of AIR was also an official of Swan / Americas.

 

[swfl]

Swfl. I'm wondering since you're more south than I am, what do you hear on 740 at night?

I'm figuring you don't hear WYGM as strong as I do up here and maybe have a better chance to hear other stations mixed with KTRH.

I ask because I mentioned in the other thread about listening for KCBS and being you are more south, more of their signal should go that way.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I was just out again this evening and checked on 740. Nothing but hash, could not make out anything well enough to ID it. In fact the only thing coming in at all was KWKH and that was not all that clear. Everything else was pretty much hash. Welcome to the world DX in SW Florida.

 

[Icangelp]

High power considering, that with one exception, Cuba was not authorized to operate at the powers they were using, and for all I know, some of the frequencies they occupied.

Early on in the Castro government, the NARBA treaty was abrogated. Cuba did not, after (albeit unilaterally) abrogation, have to respect the allocation system of North America. As is true with every country south of Mexico and most of the nations of the Caribbean, Cuba did not particularly care about interfering with AM stations elsewhere. In a sense, no different that Guatemala putting 10 kw stations on US clears like 720, 700 and 1020.

I would argue that for a country with little or no revenue generating activity, at least in the 1960's, Cuba was unusually well served.

Cuba had considerable economic strength in the 60's, but Fidel's government kind of destroyed that. First, they were a major sugar exporter in a time when that commodity had a high price: They also exported byproducts made of bagaso, the fiber from the cane. And they had nickel reserves, fishing, etc.

Cuba had been crushed by NARBA, and given few decent regional frequencies. Considering the island is nearly 800 miles long, it needed many more 1-B clears and lot's more regionals... but all the earlier southern regionals in the US put their night patterns towards Cuba, making operation less than viable.

The 1966 WRTH lists 570 @10KW, 590 @25/15KW, 630 @50KW, 640 @50KW, 690 @50KW, 720 @30KW, 730 @10KW, 740 @10KW, 760 @10KW, 790 @10KW, 830 @10KW, 910 @10KW.

Many single US markets have comparable facilities. Cuba is the equivalent of a big US state, not a single city.

After checking things out, I agree that AM is alive & well in Central and South America, ...

I just mentioned Colombia and Venezuela, where AM is quite alive. In most of Central America, AM is dead or near death, with station counts way off, and almost all listening on FM. El Salvador has about half the AMs it once had, and half of those are evangelical religious stations. Ecuador is losing AMs at the rate of a couple a month, with less than half still on the air. Chile has seen big 100 kw AMs like Minería turn in the AM license as "unviable." Jamaica has turned off all AMs, and Mexico is turning off about 75% of all AMs.

It seems like yesterday I logged the rare in the midwest, Radio Swan on 1160. What ever happened to the Gibralter Steamship Company? Bought by Princess Cruise Lines? Filed Chapter 7 and faded away?

That was a dummy corporation, bought with CIA money and run out of the offices of AIR, the Asociacion Interamericana de Radiodifusion in downtown Miami a half block south of Flagler on, if I recall, 2nd or 3rd; Ramón Goicochea, the secretary general of AIR was also an official of Swan / Americas.

Cuba may have had commodities to sell, but I wonder if the economy was equivalent to a comparable sized U.S. state, especially since the wealth was in very few hands, and then after Castro took over, in government hands.

Cuba certainly would not have had those transmitters if it weren't for the Soviet Union and its satelites.

I remember Radio Swan/Radio Americas well, and in the '70s I had a neighbor whose father was involved in the technical side of that endeavor.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I can remember back in the early 1970s nulling out WMAQ in the O'Hare/NW Chicago area and hearing absolutely no interference. A few years later, it sounded no less interfered with than a III-A and the interfering signal was in Spanish, and I assumed, Cuban. I remember that the Cuban station on 720 was at least 20 Hz off frequency and gave a loud heterodyne hum in Michigan at times on WGN.

 

[davideduardo]

I can remember back in the early 1970s nulling out WMAQ in the O'Hare/NW Chicago area and hearing absolutely no interference. A few years later, it sounded no less interfered with than a III-A and the interfering signal was in Spanish, and I assumed, Cuban. I remember that the Cuban station on 720 was at least 20 Hz off frequency and gave a loud heterodyne hum in Michigan at times on WGN.

The most famous off-frequency AM on 720 was Emisoras Fuentes in Barranquilla, Colombia. It's 30 kw, and later 50, wandered on the high side of 720.00 quite consistently and when the auroral reception was good, slammed WGN well into the midwest.

 

[davideduardo]

Cuba certainly would not have had those transmitters if it weren't for the Soviet Union and its satelites.

Most of the higher powered transmitters were installed by the big Cuban networks, particularly Circuito CMQ (the ones from 630 up to around 700) but many were directional per NARBA. The revolutionary government did away with the directionals.

In Latin America, where literacy was quite low in that era, and TV had not penetrated to any extent, AM radio was the leading advertising medium. Colombia, for example, had dozens of 50 kw AMs by the early 60's and hundreds of 10 to 20 kw stations. Much of the importance of radio involved the poor mail and telephone communication in rural areas, too.

I remember Radio Swan/Radio Americas well, and in the '70s I had a neighbor whose father was involved in the technical side of that endeavor.

Cuban, by any chance? I never saw anyone at Radio Americas who wasn't, including on a merry little plane flight out of Opa Loka to Isla de Cisne. The whole thing had obvious US government money, and was manned by the more militant refugees. For quite a few years, i had a tape of the broadcasts on the evening of the Bay of Pigs invasion, exhorting the Cuban masses to rise up and rebel. Those that rose up were killed or sent to Combinado del Este or Isla de Pinos.

 

[Icangelp]

Double post.

 

[Icangelp]

Cuba certainly would not have had those transmitters if it weren't for the Soviet Union and its satelites.

Most of the higher powered transmitters were installed by the big Cuban networks, particularly Circuito CMQ (the ones from 630 up to around 700) but many were directional per NARBA. The revolutionary government did away with the directionals.

In Latin America, where literacy was quite low in that era, and TV had not penetrated to any extent, AM radio was the leading advertising medium. Colombia, for example, had dozens of 50 kw AMs by the early 60's and hundreds of 10 to 20 kw stations. Much of the importance of radio involved the poor mail and telephone communication in rural areas, too.

I remember Radio Swan/Radio Americas well, and in the '70s I had a neighbor whose father was involved in the technical side of that endeavor.

Cuban, by any chance? I never saw anyone at Radio Americas who wasn't, including on a merry little plane flight out of Opa Loka to Isla de Cisne. The whole thing had obvious US government money, and was manned by the more militant refugees. For quite a few years, i had a tape of the broadcasts on the evening of the Bay of Pigs invasion, exhorting the Cuban masses to rise up and rebel. Those that rose up were killed or sent to Combinado del Este or Isla de Pinos.

Not Cuban, but on the U.S. government side of things as I recall. My wife & I moved out of the neighborhood shortly after he moved in. Never got a chance to grill him on the subject.

As you know, things were a lot simpler back then, and network and local news was the only instant communications most Americans had. This fact allowed for more mystery and intrigue, and my best friend who was also a MW/SW listener, and I were fascinated with clandestine broadcasting, including Radio Swan. Sounds like you had direct experience with some Caribbean intrigue. A shame you no longer have the tape, as I for one would love to hear it, even in spanish. Thankfully, I have a daughter who interprets for me.