AM 530

[Pat3]

I know it's been mentioned before about the easy listening music on 530 AM that is coming from Cuba. I enjoy listening at night which is strong enough to stop the scan button when the conditions are right. But my question is not about that station, but about that other station that is stepping all over Radio Enciclopedia 530 at night. The only stations I know of on 530 at night is mostly travelers information, and a few utility stations from Canada that are mostly off the air. The only broadcast station I know of is CIAO-Bramton, Ontario which runs various foreign languages at only 250 watts at night. Hardly enough juice to knock off 10,000 watt Radio Enciclopedia from Cuba from my location in Mississippi. Whatever this station is, its must be more that 250 watts or is nearby. It's hard to null it out so it may be coming from the same direction as Radio Enciclopedia. If you haven't heard the mystery station it's playing some lively spanish language music and some talking. Radio Enciclopedia BTW has mostly instrumental "Beautiful Music" with very little talk. Any Idea what the other station is?

 

[crainbebo]

That's a Radio Rebelde transmitter in eastern Cuba. They have been heard here - over 3000 miles away.

-crainbebo

 

[gar hi]

When I lived in Tampa, Radio Enciclopedia 530 had a good signal even in the daytime.

Every time I used to check the GlobalTuners receiver in the Mojave Desert at night, they were always there with a listenable signal.

I've often checked 530 here in Hawaii here at night but so far, it's a completely empty frequency without a trace of anything.

 

[davideduardo]

That's a Radio Rebelde transmitter in eastern Cuba. They have been heard here - over 3000 miles away.

This is Radio Rebelde 550 in Guantánamo, Cuba (Guanántamo is a significant Cuban city in addition to being near the infamous US base). When Radio Martí begin using Comando Solo type aircraft to broadcast on this channel, Cuba move the 550 station to 530 to block the signal in the Oriente provinces of Cuba.

 

[crainbebo]

Guantanamo. That's right. Heard them one time here, and it was a night where the Parker/Wapato WA TIS was off the air (only Selah was on). I was able to null out Selah's HAR and pull up the instrumental music of Enciciopedia. Then heard something else under it. Tuned to 5025, checked the tape the next day, and it was a match.
Radioman148 logged Enciclopedia in Hawaii one time. It was in one of his "DXing in Hawaii" threads from about five years ago.

 

[cyberdad]

I heard R. Enciclopedia a little over a year ago on 530 in the Mojave Desert in southern California. It's also a regular 24/7 on the beach at the Florida-Alabama state line. (We stay at a condo there...right next door to the Florabama....on a semi-regular basis). Here at home northwest of Chicago, it's also fairly common, but CIAO and R. Rebelde are occasional pests.

 

[Pat3]

CIAO Canada is no problem in Mississippi, but Rebelde has made Radio Enciclolpedia almost impossible to hear. It's a shame because I was beginning to like the easy listening music since most of the beautiful music stations disappeared in this country years ago. Before Rebelde moved to 530, the channel was very clear with an almost local quality at night, especially on a car radio or long DX portable.

 

[Ai4i]

If I remember correctly, Radio Vision InternaCional used to broadcast from the Turks and Caicos islands on 530 with enough power to reach Miami in the daytime.

 

[davideduardo]

If I remember correctly, Radio Vision InternaCional used to broadcast from the Turks and Caicos islands on 530 with enough power to reach Miami in the daytime.

Yep, they did. They had a Nautel 100 kw transmitter, and it got to the coastal areas of Miami pretty well, but not the more inland areas. It was nearly a local in the Keys, too. They apparently had some problems running at full power, either the cost or the availability of that much "juice" and ran something like 60 kw for a while. Then they were silenced by a hurricane and that seemed to end the high power operation.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Yep, they did. They had a Nautel 100 kw transmitter, and it got to the coastal areas of Miami pretty well, but not the more inland areas. It was nearly a local in the Keys, too. They apparently had some problems running at full power, either the cost or the availability of that much "juice" and ran something like 60 kw for a while. Then they were silenced by a hurricane and that seemed to end the high power operation.

In the 90's, both the 530 T&C and an 830 in the Bahamas were regular daytime in both Daytona Beach and in Melbourne.

I was able to try 530 from both Los Angeles and San Francisco.

I was far enough North not to have an issue with the LAX station, but 530 was blank in LA. That car had a pretty good radio in it at the time. Location was Mann Medical Park in Santa Clarita. There was some slight interference from a biomedical company across the street, and from the television show in production down the street (a LOT of equipment with a lot of RFI). But the noise level was still low enough I think I could have heard a station on 530 if it had been there.

San Francisco was done from the parking lot of a beach park. It was not completely dark, but almost. No trace of anything on 530, I tried for some of the big 50 kW clears from the East and got the usual suspects, but no trace of things like WBAP or WOAI. There were some closer stations on the frequencies. It may not have been late enough, though for signals more distant to appear underneath.

 

[davideduardo]

In the 90's, both the 530 T&C and an 830 in the Bahamas were regular daytime in both Daytona Beach and in Melbourne.

Freeport is on 810, not 830. 830 has a local Miami station on it.

 

[Ai4i]

ZNS-3 often relayed or relays ZNS-1 with a horrible link.

I have to admit that if this old man were in Cuba, Radio Enciclopedia would be his main preset.
DXer extraordinaire, Chris Dunn reports that they are all over the island on FM, and with R(B)DS.
I find that their web audio stinks.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

Freeport is on 810, not 830. 830 has a local Miami station on it.

I thought it was 830. Oh well its been 15 years since I lived in Central Florida. The 830 in Miami looks pretty weak, I probably never heard it from Melbourne or Daytona.

 

[gr8oldies]

Doesn't R. Enciclopedia use old Shulke II (or something) tapes?

 

[davideduardo]

Doesn't R. Enciclopedia use old Shulke II (or something) tapes?

No, it's programmed to tape from their own record library. Interestingly, some of the instrumentals of European pop songs (Like the Eurovision and San Remo tunes) are by Russian orchestras which are a product of the Soviet era in Cuba.

Shulke tapes are "matched flow" and not random access and included a vocal in English in the middle of each quarter hour set.

 

[kf4rca]

Most likely its an automation computer running Direttore or Zararadio software, which is also free. I don't know anybody who is still using tape.
I get Radio Encyclopedia here in Atlanta but there appears to be (possibly) two stations underneath them, neither of which is in English.

 

[K6JHU]

When I was in Key West I found the best station in Key West was 1260 out of Cuba. All classical.

 

[davideduardo]

Most likely its an automation computer running Direttore or Zararadio software, which is also free. I don't know anybody who is still using tape.
I get Radio Encyclopedia here in Atlanta but there appears to be (possibly) two stations underneath them, neither of which is in English.

I think the OP was referring to "tapes" generically but really meant "digital copies of the old 70's and 80's SRP tapes".

On 530 you have Radio Rebelde in Guantánamo, Enciclopedia in Metro Habana and possibly the Canadian which, IIRC, is an ethnic station.

 

[Ai4i]

Their might be a second Rebelde transmitter, also.
Remember, the island is as long as a straight line from Miami to New Orleans.

 

[davideduardo]

Their might be a second Rebelde transmitter, also.
Remember, the island is as long as a straight line from Miami to New Orleans.

I don't think anything further is going to be put on 530 as the move of Rebelde was made to block the now-defunct airborne Saturday broadcasts of Martí on that frequency.