DX-TV and FM News by Keith Hamer & Garry Smith

 

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August made a promising start here in Derby with an opening already in progress on the 1^st at 1440 with M1 (Moldova) on channel R2 (measured at 59.239MHz) from the Mindrestii Noi 30kW transmitter. On channel R3 (77.25MHz), weak pictures were riding up and down from the noise but were different from those on R2.

 

On the following morning, R2 was active but signals were unidentified. On the 4^th, a large ‘1’ logo confirmed reception of M1 at 1330 with strong signals continuing well past mid-afternoon. On the 17^th, unidentified R2 signals were noted at 0815 but were short-lived. The 17^th seemed to be the final day of intense openings of the 2021 DX-TV Season, at least here in Derby.

 

In Europe

 

On the 19th, Niels van der Linden (Épinal, France) discovered an unidentified R2 transmitter in Ukraine airing the ‘UA:Pershyi’ news programme ‘Новини’. Shots of the Kyiv transmitting mast was featured during its opening and closing sequences. The quality of reception was rather good.

 

Earlier in the month, on the 4^th, ‘1+1’ (Ukraine) on channel R1 (49.75MHz) from Kramatorsk (50kW ERP) was received. More signals from Ukraine were identified on the 9^th, namely ‘Lugansk 24’ from Lugansk on R2, and ‘Perviy Kanal’ R3 (77.25MHz) from the same site.

 

FM Sporadic-E

 

Some excellent FM signals were captured by Chris Howles (Lichfield) on several days throughout the month. The best day was the 1^st with captures from Italy, Spain, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Portugal and Bulgaria. On the following morning between 0959 and 1103, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Montenegro were identified.

 

Some activity also occurred on the 4^th, 7^th, 11^th, 14^th, 16^th and 17^th. At around the middle of the month, Roger Bunney (Romsey) noticed an FM opening with signals mainly from Spain, Italy and France.

 

Tim Bucknall (Congleton) identified eight OIRT FM stations operating in Belarus on the 1^st in the space of three minutes, just before 1500. CCIR FM band countries logged that day included Greece, Slovakia, Portugal, Italy, Rumania, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

 

On the following day between 1203 and 1206, Bulgaria, Hungary and Rumania were present. The 17^th brought in stations from Italy, Poland, France, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Serbia.

 

Tropo FM

 

On August 28^th at 1953UTC, George Garden (Stonehaven) identified east-coast Norwegian DAB+ signals on multiplex 13F (NRK Reg3 Sorog). German and Danish FM signals were identified on the 31^st by Chris Howles during an evening lift in conditions between 1851 and 2122.

 

Service Information

 

 

Gibraltar: Kevin Hewitt (Gibraltar) advises that the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) have moved into new premises. The first transmission was the Radio Gibraltar Breakfast Show on Monday, August 9^th.

 

 

Netherlands: New weather graphics and presentations were introduced by Omroep Zeeland (Netherlands) during August. The shot was taken via the Goes transmitter on channel D21 (MUX RTS free-to-air) with 10kW ERP.

 

Loeki de Leeuw (Loeki the Lion), the lovable animated lion character who appeared between Dutch ‘STER’ adverts from the early Seventies for three decades made a return to screens during August.

 

 

United Kingdom: The devastating fire at the Bilsdale West Moor transmitting site on August 10^th deprived households of television signals over a wide area. Dependent relays have changed their feed to Pontop Pike or have used satellite links to source signals as a temporary measure to restore as many channels as possible.

 

There have been legal issues over permission to locate a temporary mast at the site. To add insult to injury, the original mast has been declared structurally unsafe as the authors discovered when they made a special journey to photograph the mast. Permission to venture closer to the site was diplomatically declined by two Arqiva engineers!

 

Stay Tuned!

 

Our thanks to all our readers and DX colleagues who have submitted information and reception reports for this month. Due to the large amount of DX, we’ve had to choose the highlights, but keep them rolling in. Please submit them by the end of the month at the latest!

 

Please send DX-TV and FM reception reports, photographs and equipment details to us via the E-mail addresses shown at the top of this column.

 

 

 

 

CAPTIONS TO PHOTOGRAPHS

 

Fig. 1: Part of the Новини News sequence in Ukraine.

           Photo: Niels van der Linden (Épinal, France).

 

Fig. 2: The new GBC building in Gibraltar.

 

Fig. 3: Loeki de Leeuw (Loeki the Lion) makes a comical comeback between commercials.

           Photo: Gösta van der Linden (Rotterdam, Netherlands).

 

Fig. 4: The dormant mast at Bilsdale West Moor dominates the skyline on a quiet sunny morning following the fire.

           Photo: Keith Hamer and Garry Smith.

 

Fig. 5: The new Dutch Omroep Zeeland weather graphics.

           Photo: Gösta van der Linden.