giovedì 30 maggio 2019

Iceland: e-mail QSL from RUV 207 kHz with many info

Old QSL - Quando RUV trasmetteva in onde corte
Ho ricevuto una bella lettera di conferma dall'Islanda con molte informazioni interessanti sulla Radio Pubblica Islandese, RUV, che ho ricevuto in onde lunghe su 207 kHz a Bocca di Magra.  E' firmata da Henry A Halfdansson, Broadcast Engineer, che ringrazio per la cortesia che mostra verso i radioascoltatori. La condivido con gli amici del blog. 73, Giampiero

Dear mr. Bernardini.  We are always very happy to receive notices from people far away, that are picking up our transmissions and it has also a great value to us to understand better, the peculiarities involved in international transmissions though international broadcasting is and has never been the intention of Icelandic Public Radio.

I am glad to confirm, after listening to your sound clip, that this is a genuine transmission from our broadcast network of RÁS 2 (channel 2) transmitted by the Longwave Transmitter at Eidar at the east coast of Iceland. 

The female announcer confirms this.

We have two Longwave transmitters in Iceland, one at Gufuskalar (former the Loran station Sandur) transmitting at 189kHz, 300kW but nominally operated at 100kW and Eidar transmitting at 207kHz, 100kW but normally operated at 50kW power.

We have two national radio programs, RÁS 1 cultural program (Channel 1) and RÁS 2 Pop and music (Channel 2) and these programs are selectively broadcasted on both longwave transmitters so some parts of the day, RÁS 1 provides the program and RÁS 2 provides the program for the other parts.

RUV used to have QSL cards for confirmation to DX listeners but as the numbers of them has greatly decreased, partially by the existence of the Internet, it has not be found necessary to have them made but that request will be reviewed again.

RUV (The National Icelandic Broadcasting Service) is a public broadcaster fully owned and operated by the Government of Iceland.  It started broadcasting on longwave 1930 with one transmitter and later the second longwave transmitter and two mediumwave (AM) transmitters where added at different locations in Iceland.   After 1966 the slow building of TV and FM transmission networks commenced and transmissions started.
Today, two radio programs are nationwide broadcasted, on FM and alternately on LW and two nationwide TV programs are broadcasted on UHF using digital technology.

The mission of RUV is to support the Icelandic culture, arts and music as well as educate and entertain the nation.  RUV has its own news agency that is required by laws to be independent and provide unbiased and reliable news without influences from the government, politics, religion and businesses.

Technically the longwave stations are as follows:

Name: Gufuskálar (former USCG Loran Station Sandur)
Position: 64°54N 23°56W
Antenna: Marconi lattice tower, 416m tall
Transmitters: Two Harris DX-150, 150kW combined for 300kW total power.
Frequency: 189 kHz

Name: Eiðar
Position: 64°04N 15°12W
Antenna: Marconi lattice tower, 216m tall
Transmitters: One Harris DX-100, 100kW
Frequency: 207 kHz

The RUV headquarters and studios are located in Efstaleiti in the capital of Reykjavik.

Best regards, Henry A Halfdansson, Broadcast Engineer, Technical Services