Cuba's "Radio Reloj"

[David67]

I remember in the early 80's, Cuba relayed Radio Moscow on 600 kHz....it was kind of interesting to hear Radio Moscow and their "cold" sound on AM (albeit under a bunch of local US stations).

Also, anyone here remember Radio Free Dixie? (Was that a Cuban effort of some kind?)

I used to listen to ("The World Service of Radio Moscow) on 600am,They could really lay the propaganda on thick(Not as thick as Cuba,Czechoslovakia or Albania). I liked to listen to TransWorld Radio in Bonaire,Netherlands Antilles on 800am also. The voice of Dixie was a Cuban Propaganda vehicle.

Isn't TWR's monster skywave signal a thing of the past? I wish I'd have gotten to hear it just once. I tried during a vacation to Panama City Beach, Florida back in 2004 and 800 was just mush ... no TWR or XEROK.

I haven't heard TWR on AM in more than 10 years,too crowded now on 800 am.

[radioman148]

I remember in the early 80's, Cuba relayed Radio Moscow on 600 kHz....it was kind of interesting to hear Radio Moscow and their "cold" sound on AM (albeit under a bunch of local US stations).

Also, anyone here remember Radio Free Dixie? (Was that a Cuban effort of some kind?)

I used to listen to ("The World Service of Radio Moscow) on 600am,They could really lay the propaganda on thick(Not as thick as Cuba,Czechoslovakia or Albania). I liked to listen to TransWorld Radio in Bonaire,Netherlands Antilles on 800am also. The voice of Dixie was a Cuban Propaganda vehicle.

Isn't TWR's monster skywave signal a thing of the past? I wish I'd have gotten to hear it just once. I tried during a vacation to Panama City Beach, Florida back in 2004 and 800 was just mush ... no TWR or XEROK.

I haven't heard TWR on AM in more than 10 years,too crowded now on 800 am.

Yeah TWR used to be an easy catch in the Chicago area, but no sign of it these days.

[Icangelp]

I remember in the early 80's, Cuba relayed Radio Moscow on 600 kHz....it was kind of interesting to hear Radio Moscow and their "cold" sound on AM (albeit under a bunch of local US stations).

Also, anyone here remember Radio Free Dixie? (Was that a Cuban effort of some kind?)

I used to listen to ("The World Service of Radio Moscow) on 600am,They could really lay the propaganda on thick(Not as thick as Cuba,Czechoslovakia or Albania). I liked to listen to TransWorld Radio in Bonaire,Netherlands Antilles on 800am also. The voice of Dixie was a Cuban Propaganda vehicle.

Isn't TWR's monster skywave signal a thing of the past? I wish I'd have gotten to hear it just once. I tried during a vacation to Panama City Beach, Florida back in 2004 and 800 was just mush ... no TWR or XEROK.

I haven't heard TWR on AM in more than 10 years,too crowded now on 800 am.

Yeah TWR used to be an easy catch in the Chicago area, but no sign of it these days.

TWR Boaire used to operate at 500KW, and I believe it was a used transmitter at that. As I recall, the 500KW needed replacement, but by that ttme the world had changed, so they replaced it 50KW transmitter.

[gr8oldies]

Last I knew TWR was running 100kW, and also airing programming on a lot of local FMs. It's just strange to hear 800 today sounding like 1490. It used to be TWR with CKLW underneath, unless CKLW didn't switch to night pattern.

[stormy01]

Last I knew TWR was running 100kW, and also airing programming on a lot of local FMs. It's just strange to hear 800 today sounding like 1490. It used to be TWR with CKLW underneath, unless CKLW didn't switch to night pattern.

I have read somewhere that the 500kW rig got way too expen$ive to run, so it was decided to go directional with 100kW to focus power to their targets like the Caribbean and S/C America.
https://www.twr.org/projekt/733

[DavidEduardo]

I have read somewhere that the 500kW rig got way too expen$ive to run, so it was decided to go directional with 100kW to focus power to their targets like the Caribbean and S/C America.

With 100kw, the target can only be the northern coast of South America, rougly from Maiquetia to maybe Santa Marta or Barranquilla, and very little else.

When 800 went on, there was not much on the channel, so they could even reach Brazil at night. Today, 800 is populated with many stations in comparable power levels, making anything but local groundwave service unreasonable to expect. There is no way they could really serve Central America from so far away, particularly with many 900 kHz stations ranging from La Exitosa in Panama to stations in El Salvador and Guatemala in the way.

There is nothing close enough in the Caribbean to serve, with the possible exception of Jamaica. For example, when they ran  500 kw, reception in Puerto Rico was only DX quality daytime and only usable on the South Coast at night.

And, since radio is so little used at night, the only coverage of any significance will be daytime ground wave. Of course, with Latin American use of AM even lower than that in the US, I just can't see any value in the ongoing operation of that facility.

[radioman148]

I have read somewhere that the 500kW rig got way too expen$ive to run, so it was decided to go directional with 100kW to focus power to their targets like the Caribbean and S/C America.

With 100kw, the target can only be the northern coast of South America, rougly from Maiquetia to maybe Santa Marta or Barranquilla, and very little else.

When 800 went on, there was not much on the channel, so they could even reach Brazil at night. Today, 800 is populated with many stations in comparable power levels, making anything but local groundwave service unreasonable to expect. There is no way they could really serve Central America from so far away, particularly with many 900 kHz stations ranging from La Exitosa in Panama to stations in El Salvador and Guatemala in the way.

There is nothing close enough in the Caribbean to serve, with the possible exception of Jamaica. For example, when they ran  500 kw, reception in Puerto Rico was only DX quality daytime and only usable on the South Coast at night.

And, since radio is so little used at night, the only coverage of any significance will be daytime ground wave. Of course, with Latin American use of AM even lower than that in the US, I just can't see any value in the ongoing operation of that facility.

Did TWR run ND when they were pushing 500KW?

[DavidEduardo]

Did TWR run ND when they were pushing 500KW?

Initially, and we are talking early '60's there, they did. When they discovered they could target Brazil at night, they built some kind of directional. I had a station on 805 in Quito, and it made for an annoying heterodyne so I moved to 810. The signal was by no means regularly usable, there, though.

[radioman148]

Did TWR run ND when they were pushing 500KW?

Initially, and we are talking early '60's there, they did. When they discovered they could target Brazil at night, they built some kind of directional. I had a station on 805 in Quito, and it made for an annoying heterodyne so I moved to 810. The signal was by no means regularly usable, there, though.

They used to come in pretty well in the midwest so they must have been sending some signal north or northwest.

[ai4i]

They were omni-directional on 800 KHz, medium wave, with a half megawatt transmitter feeding a single 5/8 wave vertical radiator. We go back to the days when Radio Netherlands rented time on the station each evening. It is our oppinion that Radio Netherlands was and remains the most captivating of all international broadcasters; not bad for a country of sixteen million people.