Monday, February 24, 2014

Czech Republic longwave to close by end of February

Czech Republic

270  Czech longwave Topolna

A reminder that there are just two weeks left for you to listen to the Czech Republic on longwave, as it is marked for closure at the end of February. The ending of transmissions on 270 will leave a completely empty
channel across Europe, presumably for the first time on either longwave or mediumwave since the early days of radio.

Recently, I've noticed that they cut the transmitter for its overnight break without ceremony either at exactly 2300 (sometimes on the very last pip) and sometimes in the middle of the 2300 news. I don't know which
sounds more unprofessional!

Running on reduced power, it is now "only" 650 kW rather than 1.5 MW. The directional pattern - WNW-ESE - puts the UK in the best part of the beam, so an easy listen here on a portable in these winter evenings.
(Chris Greenway-UK, BrDXC-UK ng Febr 14/WWDXC Top Nx 1151)