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For All You SWL's Out There

K

kf4rca

Guest
Allan Weiner (WBCQ-7490) has announced he will be installing a new 500KW transmitter at Monticello, Me. which should be able to cover the entire world. It is unclear how he plans to do this as he has only single phase power available from his electric company.
 
There are better, more elegant ways to do this than with brute force transmitters.
That is throwing money at a problem aimlessly.
 
ai4i said:
There are better, more elegant ways to do this than with brute force transmitters.
That is throwing money at a problem aimlessly.
Click to expand...

The real issue is the nearly non-existent occurrence of short wave radio ownership world wide.
 
Some people just seem to get other people to loan or hand them money. Never figured out how Jeff White keeps going with the Florida Shortwave facility
 
CTListener said:
Probably doesn't matter to Weiner, whose assortment of bottom-feeding dollar-a-holler clients will gladly pay a little extra to reach whatever audience there is.
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There has to be a diminishing return on the investment at those commercial SW stations.

In 1966 I bought an AM/SW combo, studied the economics of shortwave and turned in the SW part of the license. Even though the DXer in me really wanted to have a shortwave station, I could not justify a new transmitter, maintenance and power costs and licensing fees. And that was over 50 years ago!
 
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Jeff White (WRMI) usually has all 5 of his frequencies going in the evening with foreign language broadcasts. That's probably how he gets away carrying VOA News (in English) which isn't normally available to domestic broadcasters.
 
Tecsun alone probably sells hundreds of thousands, if not millions of SW radios every year. They're being sold somewhere, and not just China.

The audience for SW is out there -- mainly in Africa, parts of Central and Southern Asia, and the Middle East.

I wish WBCQ's 500 KW venture well. Hopefully they will aim some of that signal to Africa and places where there are more SW radio listeners. They might get a bit more longevity that way.
 
boombox4 said:
Tecsun alone probably sells hundreds of thousands, if not millions of SW radios every year. They're being sold somewhere, and not just China.
Click to expand...

More likely they sell tens of thousands, and the number is declining.

The audience for SW is out there -- mainly in Africa, parts of Central and Southern Asia, and the Middle East.
Click to expand...

Take a listen to the FM dial in the cities across Africa. Ouagadougou has around 30 FM stations, and the smaller towns and cities in Burkina each have more FM stations than a comparably sized city in the US. Most places have stations both in their main European language (French, Dutch, English, Portuguese, Spanish) as well as vernaculars of the locality.

The same is true in many places like Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand, etc. And in many areas, people who could never get landlines now have cellulars and have access to entertainment options as well as to highly developed "phone based currency" services.

There is very little entertaining, mass appeal shortwave. Who, other than an already fervent follower of one of the religious movements that uses shortwave to proselytize, would buy a SW radio if there is nothing to listen to?

Some broadcasters, like the BBC, have gone to leasing or doing deals with local stations all over the areas you mention to provide local service, as SW does not have the reach it once did.

I wish WBCQ's 500 KW venture well. Hopefully they will aim some of that signal to Africa and places where there are more SW radio listeners. They might get a bit more longevity that way.
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Unless the ministries that buy time can get donations from Niger or Liberia or Malawi or the rest, there is no way to finance such a station unless there are ministries that are so well financed that they can afford the cost.
 
kf4rca said:
Jeff White (WRMI) usually has all 5 of his frequencies going in the evening with foreign language broadcasts. That's probably how he gets away carrying VOA News (in English) which isn't normally available to domestic broadcasters.
Click to expand...

WRMI is not licensed as a domestic broadcaster. Shortwave stations in the US are not supposed to provide service to the US itself... it's in the rules.

"(a) International broadcast stations. A broadcasting station employing frequencies allocated to the broadcasting service between 5900 and 26100 kHz, the transmissions of which are intended to be received directly by the general public in foreign countries. (A station may be authorized more than one transmitter.) There are both Federal and non-Federal Government international broadcast stations; only the latter are licensed by the Commission and are subject to the rules of this subpart. "
 
DavidEduardo said:


WRMI is not licensed as a domestic broadcaster. Shortwave stations in the US are not supposed to provide service to the US itself... it's in the rules.

"(a) International broadcast stations. A broadcasting station employing frequencies allocated to the broadcasting service between 5900 and 26100 kHz, the transmissions of which are intended to be received directly by the general public in foreign countries. (A station may be authorized more than one transmitter.) There are both Federal and non-Federal Government international broadcast stations; only the latter are licensed by the Commission and are subject to the rules of this subpart. "
Click to expand...

With US shortwave broadcasters now transmitting on 60 and 90 meters, as well as on frequencies outside the other broadcast bands, I doubt the FCC is enforcing their SW regulations at all.
 
I have two pretty decent and one super short wave set here. 7490 should be an easy catch on any of them.

Especially with 500,000 watts.

I've never heard Mr. Weiner. All I want is a new catch for the logbook. (I'm certain he's never heard of me, either)

The last semi-official experiment broadcast I remember was from KA2XAU from somewhere downstate in PA. They did a test on 1620 one night. They came in crystal. It was a nice birthday present for me, 10/10/94.

But really -- 500,000 watts ? Is Weiner on LIHEAP ?
 
Email From Weiner

The venture is being financed by a large religious broadcaster. They are also financing the construction of the 3-phase electric service into the facility.
The pad was poured for the rotatable antenna last summer. The antenna will be similar to the Alliss antenna design:
http://shortwavedxer.blogspot.com/2011/08/radio-france-international-montsinery.html
Weiner has a shortwave show called Allan Weiner Worldwide on Friday nights at 8PM on 7490 where he discusses all things radio, mainly AM & SW. He accepts phone calls and emails and has frequent guests.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Unless the ministries that buy time can get donations from Niger or Liberia or Malawi or the rest, there is no way to finance such a station unless there are ministries that are so well financed that they can afford the cost.
Click to expand...

I see ministries' websites that finance satellite broadcasts to those parts of the world, and that ain't cheap, either. As you are obviously aware, ministries do not always consider the cost effectiveness of their delivery. In their view "if at least one person comes to Christ...." etc. etc. Some ministries mention SW, although that number isn't as great as it used to be.

TWR has an active SW ministry in Africa, the Mideast and Asia, renting transmitters in South Africa. There is another SW ministry, FEBC, I think still operates in Asia. They seem to be the exception to the rule, though.

Your point is well taken, though.
 
ai4i said:
Hundreds of them,
Thousands of them,
Millions of them,
maybe even DOZENs of them...LOL
Click to expand...

I would think it's a lot more than dozens. Companies like Tecsun and Sangean don't fire up a factory to produce a few hundred or just a few thousand radios, especially when they are sold for less than $100 each. It's not like the ham radio industry, where they can produce maybe 1000 or so a year and still make money because they are sold for $3000-$4000 each. :)
 
boombox4 said:
I would think it's a lot more than dozens. Companies like Tecsun and Sangean don't fire up a factory to produce a few hundred or just a few thousand radios, especially when they are sold for less than $100 each. It's not like the ham radio industry, where they can produce maybe 1000 or so a year and still make money because they are sold for $3000-$4000 each. :)
Click to expand...

I suspect, like iPhones and Foxconn, that Sangean and Tecsun subcontract in specific size production runs, their models.

Short wave radios today are like novelty radios. I'll bet the pink Kitty radios sell more than the shortwave ones. And, likely, they are contracted out for manufacture.
 
kf4rca said:
http://www.wagmtv.com/content/news/Tuning-in-to-Monticello-490955221.html
Click to expand...

The red pole in the video is the base of this - a 500 KW all-band antenna on a rotor mentioned earlier:

https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/ampegon-installs-shortwave-array-antenna
https://ampegon.com/products/sw-antenna/

And the transmitter is this Continental 500 KW model with DRM capability:

https://contelec.com/419-420drm


Impressive, but what will pay the 650/1200 KW electric bill long term? Hopefully it will not be the return of Brother Stair...
 
Its good to see he's getting 3 phase electric in there. For years all he had was single phase electric service. Makes me wonder how he got a 50KW transmitter to make power. Or, was he really making power?
As far as I know, this is the first Alliss antenna installation in the US. They're pretty popular in Europe though. The photos I've seen have the building built around the base of the antenna. Might be an available real estate thing though. Allan has plenty of real estate in northern Maine.
I can see the county and state government people staying up late night figuring out how to create a new tax for this thing.
 
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