Unid station carrying Al Jazeera on 1143 kHz

On June 13th a strong MW-station broadcasting Al Jazeera audio in Arabic on 1143 kHz was heard in Växjö, southeast of Sweden. Heard from 2030 until after 2200 UTC. No ID only Al Jazeera audio. Teat from .......? Not heard on the 14th of June. The program was identified by Tarek Zeidan, Cairo. (Bengt Ericson, ARC)                                                                

Portugal: RTP Antena 1 666 kHz reactivated

Good news from Portugal. RTP, the public broadcaster, has recently reactivated the transmitter for Antena 1 at Cristelo Covo (Valença) - 666 kHz 10 kW. This frequency, located in Northwest Portugal close to Spain, was closed down some years ago (in 2011) because the transmitter suffered a irretrievable breakdown. As a consequence of this problem, RTP has been postponing this matter.... until now. It appears (my speculation) that the technical dept. found one spare transmitter not regularly used but kept in good condition, which should now replace the old, broken equipment.

According to the user "P. Pinto" at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/mundo_da_radio/conversations/topics/2739 , the modulation is somewhat weak; anyway, the transmitter puts good signal between Valença and Caminha; 666 kHz have fair reception within the city of Viana do Castelo.

This MW outlet is particularly useful in highly mountainous areas where the reception via VHF-FM has some gaps. Despite the fact that RTP has been installing new VHF-FM relays in the region, there are few areas (e.g. Vila Nova de Cerveira)  not well served by VHF-FM, so mediumwave should be an alternative to listen to the first channel of public radio.

Best regards, good DX & 73,

Luís Carvalho via Mauno Ritola via Bengt Ericson, ARC

RSL stations on the air at UK race meetings

UNITED KINGDOM – Race meetings
1602 AM - Silverstone, Northampton. Race commentary broadcast On Air From: 21.2.2015 to 2.11.2015. General Enquiries: 01327 320285. General Enquiries (email): paul.goodall@silverstone.co.uk

1602 AM Radio Thruxton, Thruxton, Andover, Hampshire PA relay of race commentary. On Air From: 4.4.2015 to 4.10.2015. General Enquiries: 07971 123356 General Enquiries (email): andrew@andrewtoms.co.

These 2 racing circuits broadcast their race meetings on 1602 kHz.  Most weekends there are meetings. I have listed the dates where broadcasting will (bold)/ may take place.

THRUXTON MEETINGS
13 - 14 June       British Trucks
25-26 July          Motor bikes
31 July - 2 August; Super Bikes

SILVERSTONE MEETINGS
05 - 07 June International GT Championship Grand Prix
02 - 05 July FORMULA 1 BRITISH GRAND PRIX Grand Prix
24 - 26 July Silverstone Classic Grand Prix
02 August         Ford Fair National

08 - 09 August British Racing Trucks National
15 - 16 August British Racing Sports Car Club National
15 - 16 August Vintage Sports Car Club International
22 - 23 August 750 Motor Club International
29 - 30 August World Series by Renault Grand Prix & Stowe
__._,_.___
(John Williams, mwcircle 8.6.2015 via Tore Larsson, ARC)

Radio Mi Amigo starting relays over Radio Merkurs 1485, Riga

Radio Mi Amigo will be starting regular relays on Sunday 20.00 – 24.00 CET via Radio Merkurs 1485 kHz to Scandinavia. There will be four hours shows of DJs and music from the 1960s/70s. (Bengt Ericson, ARC)