[robjw1974]

Hi there everyone, I am from Scotland, new to this forum and looking forward to reading through all your posts.

The reason why I'm sending this post today is that, while listening to my shortwave radio last night, I came across a CBC Radio One stream on 6160kHz, reception was poor but I could just about make out 'the world at six' and a identification of CBC Labrador at the end of the newscast.

A google search found that this was CKZN from Goose Bay. My question is does anyone in Labrador or with the other shortwave service CKZU (from Vancouver) still use this service? I thought that all of eastern Canada and British Columbia would have been served by AM and FM?

Thanks in advance and looking forward to your replys,

Rob.

 

[NESTER]

shortwave relay transmitters:

A quick search of Wiki says "Two CBC Radio One stations operate shortwave relay transmitters:"

CBN in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, with call sign CKZN
CBU in Vancouver, British Columbia, with call sign CKZU

Are you blocked on the internet from the same broadcast?

 

[JamesK]

The reason why I'm sending this post today is that, while listening to my shortwave radio last night

There's another station, located west of Toronto, that you may be interested in. It's CFRX, which is in Mississauga, Ontario, but it's considered a Toronto station.

 

[va3saj]

Hi there everyone, I am from Scotland, new to this forum and looking forward to reading through all your posts.

The reason why I'm sending this post today is that, while listening to my shortwave radio last night, I came across a CBC Radio One stream on 6160kHz, reception was poor but I could just about make out 'the world at six' and a identification of CBC Labrador at the end of the newscast.

A google search found that this was CKZN from Goose Bay. My question is does anyone in Labrador or with the other shortwave service CKZU (from Vancouver) still use this service? I thought that all of eastern Canada and British Columbia would have been served by AM and FM?

Thanks in advance and looking forward to your replys,

Rob.

Hi Rob:

I live north of Toronto, Ontario, but I often listen to CKZN 6160 Khz...it normally comes in reasonably well here, considering that it's only putting out a measly 1 kW of power. You might have better luck with the CBC Quebec Northern Service on 9625 kHz (at 100 kW), which should be much more easily heard. All of Eastern Canada is served, as you say, by local FM and (less regularly now) AM, but it's nice to tune in the shortwave signals as well. As for CFRX, they are at 6070 Khz and also put out a small signal (1 kW) from The Toronto area, but I have heard them as far south as Colombia (in South America). They come in here very well by day (ground wave) but not so much at night. But they don't do CBC programming...rather they transmit a local AM News-Talk station, CFRB 1010 AM.

Good luck with your listening to Canada on Shortwave!

P.S. I also sometimes like to listen to the BBC World Service from the UK, and even sometimes, when propagation is good, can pick up your longwave BBC Broadcasts from Droitwich at 198 kHz. The CBC does an overnight service where they sometimes retransmit public broadcasters such as the BBC....so you get the interesting situation of hearing the BBC World Service on CBC CKZN 6160 Khz! There's no longwave radio over here in Canada, the band is only used for navigational beacons, but on long winter nights, broadcast signals start to drift in from Europe. I believe BBC Droitwich runs 500 kW and can be heard all over the UK, including Scotland...but it's pretty weak when it gets to Canada, and I can only hear it when atmospheric conditions are quiet. I have better luck with the BBC signals to Africa on shortwave, mainly on 7310, 7255, 9410, 12095, 9915 and 15400 Khz!

 

[robjw1974]

Hi there and thanks 'va3saj' for all the information.

I took your advice and tuned into 9625kHz for the Northern Quebec Service. I could just about hear an English broadcast from CBC North but interference from other stations flooded over it! If it was not for those stations (I think it was Voice of Russia and China Radio International) then reception would have been perfect, I will keep on checking at other times of the day.

Years ago I used to listen to Radio Canada International. In fact it was RCI that encouraged me to visit Montreal in 1995 for a holiday, happy times indeed Unfortunatly RCI is not as good as it used to be and its also very difficult to pick here as it only broadcasts to Africa and Asia now

I'm very pleased to hear that you try to listen into BBC Radio 4 Long Wave. This is the main UK domestic station and it can be recieved everywhere in the UK, Ireland and a lot of Western Europe. Its programmes are from 5.20UTC until 0100UTC, outside these times it broadcasts the BBC World Service. I like listening to the Shipping Forcast 5.20UTC, 12.00UTC and 00.45UTC, the main newscasts starting with Big Ben's chimes at 1800 and 0000UTC and the playing of 'God Save the Queen' at 00.55GMT. Yes your right that it broadcasts on 198kHz from Droitwich (500kW), it also has fillers from Westerglen (near Stirling, Scotland 50kW) and Burghead (near Inverness, Scotland 50kW) all on 198kHz, these are to make sure that it covers all areas of the North Sea and Atlantic areas around UK/Ireland as the service is used for fishermen.

If your listening into Longwave you might also want to try 252kHz, this is RTE Radio One from Dublin, I think it has a power of 300kW, its booms in hear anyway.

All our BBC Nationals are on high power Medium Wave. You can try BBC Radio Scotland on 810kHz (100kW), BBC Radio Wales on 882kHz and BBC Radio Ulster for Northern Ireland on 1341kHz (100kW).

Anyway I'm going to try and stay up late and see if I can hear from stations from Newfoundland on AM.

Thanks for the message and good luck with your listening.

Rob.

 

[tvlurker]

My question is does anyone in Labrador or with the other shortwave service CKZU (from Vancouver) still use this service? I thought that all of eastern Canada and British Columbia would have been served by AM and FM?

Northern Canada is a h-u-g-e place.

There is no such thing as FM(VHF), or even AM(MW) that can cover everywhere.

 

[va3saj]

Hi Rob:

With 9625 CBC Northern Service you've got to be careful, as they broadcast in English, also in French, and some programming is in Aboriginal languages as well. So if it's not English, it might still be CBC North, just in an Indian language or something. But you are right, at certain times of the day it gets heavy interference, even at 100 kW, and I find the weaker CKZN at 6160 Khz offers better reception! As it happens, right now I have it on and it is playing CBC Overnight, with a program from the BBC World Service.

I have tried RTE from Ireland, it comes in here also, but as with BBC Droitwich, you need good conditions to hear it (long winter nights help). I've had no luck with BBC from the UK on AM, there are too many stations here; you might get something between channels (like 882 or 1314), but I've never heard them. Shortwave is far more reliable than AM or Longwave for this.

If you want to get AM from Newfoundland, there's a full list of AM/FM stations here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_radio_stations_in_Newfoundland_and_Labrador

It's worth pointing out also that even though AM/FM cannot cover everywhere in Canada, almost all of the inhabited areas are. I travel a lot across Canada, and even in remote areas (say Northern Ontario) virtually every little town has a CBC repeater or rebroadcaster of some sort. There are hundreds of them here in Ontario alone. There are plenty of private stations too, of course. Out on the Prairies, the larger 50 kW signals blanket large sections of their respective provinces...you can hear, for example, CBC Regina 540 throughout most of Saskatchewan (except the far, far north) and well into Manitoba and Alberta. CBW 990 Winnipeg goes well into Ontario. Some of the Toronto powerhouses (like all news radio 680 and CFRB NewsTalk 1010 and AM740 Zoomer Radio) I've picked up daytime on the car radio while driving towards the Sault in Northern Ontario. And so on.

Good luck with your efforts to get Canadian radio in the UK.

VA3SAJ

 

[FLACer]

Years ago I used to listen to Radio Canada International. In fact it was RCI that encouraged me to visit Montreal in 1995 for a holiday, happy times indeed Unfortunatly RCI is not as good as it used to be and its also very difficult to pick here as it only broadcasts to Africa and Asia now

As va3saj pointed out, because of CBC 's overnight service where they retransmit public broadcasters, you should also hear RCI on CBC CKZN 6160 Khz as it is broadcast on CBC Radio One overnights from 2:00 am to 4:00 am Atlantic Time.

Anyway I'm going to try and stay up late and see if I can hear from stations from Newfoundland on AM.

Try for 590 VOCM from St. John's. They're a 20,000 watt station (with a directional pattern at night only) and I've often heard and read about people from all over Great Britain being able to receive them.

Good luck and Happy Listening.

 

[FLACer]

As va3saj pointed out, because of CBC 's overnight service where they retransmit public broadcasters, you should also hear RCI on CBC CKZN 6160 Khz as it is broadcast on CBC Radio One overnights from 2:00 am to 4:00 am Atlantic Time.

To be more specific here, it's actually the broadcast of The Link with Mark Montgomery from Montreal. (Sorry about that.)