As a child, the medium wave band was a mysterious place replete with strong international broadcasters such as Radio Sweden International, Radio Moscow and the BBC, and who could forget the thrill of tuning into the medium wave pirates of the past, whether it was Radio Caroline in the 1960s, the land based pirates such as Radio Jackie in the 1970s, or Laser 558 in the 1980s. Being something of a radio back-water these days, the medium wave band is not something that Wireless Waffle has paid much attention to. So on a recent night-time road-trip where there was little else to do, the journey was shortened by the unforgiving task of working the way along the medium wave dial to see what was there these days.
It is evident that the UK still has a prestigious number of medium wave stations, though many are geared towards older listeners (whose hearing is no doubt so frequency constrained that the limited bandwidth of AM sounds just as clear as FM) and whose service area is relatively limited due to the lower powers used (most UK local AM stations have transmitter powers around 500 Watts). At night, however, is when the band comes alive and stations from all over Europe (and even further afield) become audible. Tuning around at night reveals one key fact: Spain appears to be the king of the medium wave band. On almost any clear frequency, it is the Spanish radio stations that seem to dominate. Germany has now ceased medium wave broadcasting, and there are a diminishing number of stations in France and the Netherlands (even stalwart Radio 538 on 891 kHz recently closed down just a couple of weeks ago on 26 October).
Of course, when driving it's difficult to simultaneously look up what stations are on a particular frequency (unless you have a willing passenger) so any interesting stations and frequencies have to be committed to memory for later research. One such station and frequency that sprang up was I Am Radio on 1350 kHz. At the time of listening, it was playing almost non-stop obscure disco tracks with occasional announcements and news (from NPR) in English and the odd announcement in Italian. It is the Italian language announcements that give a clue as to the station's provenance, and a bit of web-searching later revealed that the station is 'semi-pirate'. Exactly what this means is not clear but it seems to suggest that it is not a totally legitimate organisation.
The signal on 1350 kHz is surprisingly strong, given the stated night-time transmitter power of just 1 kW (though there are rumours of an increase to 50 kW being due). And as the frequency is almost completely clear of interference from any high power transmitters in Europe (if you exclude the 850 kW mammoth or TWR Asia in Armenia), reception is surprisingly good. If obscure disco and news from the USA is your thing, why not give it a try. They claim a contact address of 'info@iamradio.am' though the associated web-address only yields a parking page.
But coming back to the question of which European country rules the medium wave band, Wireless Waffle has conducted an analysis of the stations currently on air to find out which country uses the most frequencies and which country emits the most power into the ether, based on data from MW List.
The answers are maybe not that surprising. The top 10 European medium wave countries in terms of the numbers of frequencies used (out of the 120 possible channels from 531 to 1602 kHz inclusive) are as follows:
So Spain really are medium wave royalty, if the number of frequencies in use is the measure. But what about if the total amount of power radiated into the ether is taken into account. The results look as follows:
Spain retains its crown as the top medium wave transmitting country in Europe with over 5 MegaWatts of radiated power, but some surprising new countries appear lower down the top 10. Hungary jumps from joint 10th to 4th. France has only 3 medium wave frequencies in use but as one of these is the behemoth 1000 kW transmitter of TWR Europe on 1467 kHz this dwarfs many of the other countries who have a greater number of transmitters but of much lower power. Belgium has only 2 active medium wave frequencies but at 300 kW, RTBF International on 621 kHz tips the scales in their favour to bring them in at (this week's) number 10.
What does this tell us? Nothing in particular, and definitely nothing of any use or value, it's just a somewhat pointless academic exercise. But it does suggest that if you are a manufacturer of AM transmitters, you should undoubtedly aim to site your offices in London, Madrid and Bucharest. Or that if you are learning Spanish, you might do well to buy a medium wave radio and tune around the band at night!
It is evident that the UK still has a prestigious number of medium wave stations, though many are geared towards older listeners (whose hearing is no doubt so frequency constrained that the limited bandwidth of AM sounds just as clear as FM) and whose service area is relatively limited due to the lower powers used (most UK local AM stations have transmitter powers around 500 Watts). At night, however, is when the band comes alive and stations from all over Europe (and even further afield) become audible. Tuning around at night reveals one key fact: Spain appears to be the king of the medium wave band. On almost any clear frequency, it is the Spanish radio stations that seem to dominate. Germany has now ceased medium wave broadcasting, and there are a diminishing number of stations in France and the Netherlands (even stalwart Radio 538 on 891 kHz recently closed down just a couple of weeks ago on 26 October).
Of course, when driving it's difficult to simultaneously look up what stations are on a particular frequency (unless you have a willing passenger) so any interesting stations and frequencies have to be committed to memory for later research. One such station and frequency that sprang up was I Am Radio on 1350 kHz. At the time of listening, it was playing almost non-stop obscure disco tracks with occasional announcements and news (from NPR) in English and the odd announcement in Italian. It is the Italian language announcements that give a clue as to the station's provenance, and a bit of web-searching later revealed that the station is 'semi-pirate'. Exactly what this means is not clear but it seems to suggest that it is not a totally legitimate organisation.
The signal on 1350 kHz is surprisingly strong, given the stated night-time transmitter power of just 1 kW (though there are rumours of an increase to 50 kW being due). And as the frequency is almost completely clear of interference from any high power transmitters in Europe (if you exclude the 850 kW mammoth or TWR Asia in Armenia), reception is surprisingly good. If obscure disco and news from the USA is your thing, why not give it a try. They claim a contact address of 'info@iamradio.am' though the associated web-address only yields a parking page.
But coming back to the question of which European country rules the medium wave band, Wireless Waffle has conducted an analysis of the stations currently on air to find out which country uses the most frequencies and which country emits the most power into the ether, based on data from MW List.
The answers are maybe not that surprising. The top 10 European medium wave countries in terms of the numbers of frequencies used (out of the 120 possible channels from 531 to 1602 kHz inclusive) are as follows:
Position | Country | Frequencies Used |
---|---|---|
1 | Spain | 69 |
2 | United Kingdom | 68 |
3 | Romania | 26 |
4 | Italy | 21 |
5 | The Netherlands | 10 |
6 | Greece | 9 |
7= | Portugal | 8 |
7= | Czech Republic | 8 |
9 | Poland | 7 |
10= | Cyprus | 6 |
10= | Hungary | 6 |
So Spain really are medium wave royalty, if the number of frequencies in use is the measure. But what about if the total amount of power radiated into the ether is taken into account. The results look as follows:
Position | Country | Power Emitted (kW) |
---|---|---|
1 | Spain | 5190 |
2 | United Kingdom | 4130 |
3 | Romania | 3905 |
4 | Hungary | 2510 |
5 | Cyprus | 1910 |
6 | Czech Republic | 1150 |
7 | France | 1010 |
8 | Macedonia | 400 |
9 | Italy | 390 |
10 | Belgium | 310 |
Spain retains its crown as the top medium wave transmitting country in Europe with over 5 MegaWatts of radiated power, but some surprising new countries appear lower down the top 10. Hungary jumps from joint 10th to 4th. France has only 3 medium wave frequencies in use but as one of these is the behemoth 1000 kW transmitter of TWR Europe on 1467 kHz this dwarfs many of the other countries who have a greater number of transmitters but of much lower power. Belgium has only 2 active medium wave frequencies but at 300 kW, RTBF International on 621 kHz tips the scales in their favour to bring them in at (this week's) number 10.
What does this tell us? Nothing in particular, and definitely nothing of any use or value, it's just a somewhat pointless academic exercise. But it does suggest that if you are a manufacturer of AM transmitters, you should undoubtedly aim to site your offices in London, Madrid and Bucharest. Or that if you are learning Spanish, you might do well to buy a medium wave radio and tune around the band at night!
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Wednesday 26 October, 2016, 19:12 - Spectrum Management
Posted by Administrator
It seems that consultants RealWireless have been at it again. At what again, you ask? Back in May 2014, Wireless Waffle reported that a report, produced for Ofcom had been modified to seemingly correct a factor of 1000 error in the forecasts for future mobile data traffic thus fatally skewing their forecasts for the amount of spectrum needed for mobile services.Posted by Administrator
This time, in a new report for the European Commission entitled, 'Identification and quantification of key socio-economic data to support strategic planning for the
introduction of 5G in Europe' (admittedly led by Tech4i˛ but where you can bet your bottom dollar that RealWireless were the spectrum experts), the mathematical brainiacs have declared that the amount of radio spectrum required for the next generation of mobile service (5G) by 2025 will be between 19 and 76 GHz depending on the 'sharing scenario', meaning that if operators are prepared to get along nicely and co-operate to use the same spectrum, somewhat less will be needed (as if that is going to happen!)
The report specifically considered a number of scenarios and concluded that it is in the use of 5G on motorways where the demand for spectrum is highest. This is based on the notion that there are :
1000 vehicles along a 1km stretch of motorway, most of which (75%) are using high rate (4K/UHD) and pervasive video applications and devices operating simultaneously in vehicles. The usage in vehicles on a busy motorway within a Smart City with traffic building up due to an accident, is estimated to be 215 Mbps per vehicle as described in the transport ‘day in the life of’ story.
Er, firstly, it doesn't take 215 Mbps to deliver 4K/UHD video: Netflix purportedly manage to deliver 4K video at 18 Mbps, so what is the other 200 Mbps per vehicle for? Obviously that is the driver playing 'Interactive 4D Battle Death Wars XIV' which streams live data from 200 other players to create a 'fully-immersive real-time near-death experience'. Obviously the driver can do this because the car drives itself.
Of course the amount of spectrum needed to deliver this connectivity, even if it did prove necessary, could be reduced by increasing the number of base stations. One every 4 to 5 metres should do it.
These silly preductions, and it's not just RealWireless, because based on the latest ITU estimates, we will all be streaming 4K video 24 hours of every day by 2043, are designed for one purpose only: to allow the mobile industry, most notably the manufacturers of network infrastructure (such as Ericsson and Huawei) to convince the world that more spectrum is needed, so that they can flog a load more of new equipment.
Are the mobile operators themselves clamouring for new spectrum? There is little evidence to suggest that they are. The latest spectrum auction in the US has failed, so far, to raise enough money from the mobile operators to pay the broadcasters to budge over and make way for the 'big boys'. And there are several spectrum bands that have been available for mobile services for 10 years or more (notably the 2 GHz TDD bands, and the 3.4-3.6 GHz band) for which no widespread services have been launched.
It's hard to see how the estimated 76 GHz of spectrum could possibly be needed in 9 years time, and even less so, why operators would invest in spectrum and infrastructure to allow bored drivers to play 'Interactive 4D Battle Death Wars' whilst stuck in a traffic jam. Wireless Waffle predicts that the real amount of spectrum needed by 2025 will be at least 10 times less than this. So, the gauntlet has been thrown down, let's come back in 2026 and see who was right!
Various media outlets reported that singer Kylie Minogue (and other famous television personalities) are using radio waves to get a facelift. At Wireless Waffle we like a good radio related story and if it involved Kylie then we are triply interested.
So what are the 'collagen waves' that the report claims are giving Ms Minogue her youthful look? It turns out that it is not strictly radio waves that are being used, but that very high frequency ultrasound is to blame. There are several articles online with titles such as:
So, effectively, the treatment causes damage to the various bits of the skin under the surface, presumably older bits, and the body then repairs the area, presumably with new bits. This is done by introducing:
Wireless Waffle decided to test the approach using similar equipment available in our test facilities using the following, scientifically accurate procedure:
It therefore seems very plausible that the reason Ms Minogue remains to tasty as she approaches her 50th birthday is due to the application of high power ultrasound radio-waves. Maybe others would like to replicate our experiment and report back on how tasty they were able to make their thighs.
So what are the 'collagen waves' that the report claims are giving Ms Minogue her youthful look? It turns out that it is not strictly radio waves that are being used, but that very high frequency ultrasound is to blame. There are several articles online with titles such as:
- Radio Waves for the treatment of Skin Laxity; or
- Facial Skin Rejuvenation with High Frequency Ultrasound
to induce thermal damage to thus stimulate neocollagenesis in deep layers of the skin and subcutaneous tissue
So, effectively, the treatment causes damage to the various bits of the skin under the surface, presumably older bits, and the body then repairs the area, presumably with new bits. This is done by introducing:
a selective and controlled rise in tissue temperature.
Wireless Waffle decided to test the approach using similar equipment available in our test facilities using the following, scientifically accurate procedure:
- First we took the only thing hanging around that needed an improvement in its 'skin laxity' this being a chicken thigh that was in the fridge destined for a nice casserole or being barbequed.
- As we did not have 3 MHz ultrasound equipment available, we opted instead for the 2.4 GHz waves induced by our microwave oven.
- It is also said that Ms Minogue uses Pond's cream to improve her skin tone. To replicate this, we coated the chicken thigh in a layer of mayonnaise.
- As the areas surrounding the face will absorb some of the radio signal, we placed the chicken thigh on some cold, pre-cooked pasta and a few carrots and a piece of broccoli to simulate the neck and shoulders.
- As the power levels used for the collagen wave treatment are claimed to be between 50 and 200 Watts, and as our microwave was 900 Watts, we set it to '10%' to simulate a 90 Watt collagen wave signal.
Before | After |
Information on broadcast radio stations that are actually on-air in various cities around the world is sometimes easy to get hold of, and sometimes very difficult. For many African countries, the situation is quite dynamic as stations come and go, and also many stations have no web presence (whether web-site or streaming) making verifying things very complex.
As occasional readers may be aware, the Wireless Waffle team travel to some pretty out-of-the-way places in pursuit of digging out the most important factlets regarding all matters related to radio spectrum. And with that in mind, we bring you a bandscan of the FM band in Lomé, the capital city of Togo in West Africa.
For a country where the average annual income is just US$650, there sure are a lot of radio stations on the air!
As occasional readers may be aware, the Wireless Waffle team travel to some pretty out-of-the-way places in pursuit of digging out the most important factlets regarding all matters related to radio spectrum. And with that in mind, we bring you a bandscan of the FM band in Lomé, the capital city of Togo in West Africa.
Frequency | Station | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
89.9 | City FM | Stereo | |
91.5 | RFI 1 Afrique | Stereo. RDS: Radio France Internat | |
91.9 | Sport FM | Stereo | |
92.3 | Zephyr | Stereo | |
93.1 | Taxi FM | Stereo | |
93.5 | Kanal FM | Stereo | |
94.3 | Radio Zion | Stereo | |
95.5 | Nana FM | Stereo. RDS: Test 123 | |
96.1 | Victory FM | Aflao, Ghana | |
96.3 | Victoire FM | Stereo | |
97.1 | Radio Metropolys Lome | ||
97.5 | BBC World Service | Stereo | |
97.9 | Radio Maria Togo | ||
98.7 | Bonne Nouvelle | ||
99.5 | Radio Lome | Stereo | |
100.7 | Radio De L'Evangile | Stereo | |
101.1 | Radio Horizon | ||
101.5 | Radio Kara | Stereo | |
102.7 | KNTB | ||
103.1 | Radio Carre Jaune | ||
103.9 | Frequence 1 | ||
105.1 | Radio Ephphata La Voix Du Presbyterien | RDS: RADIO | EPHPHATA | LA VOIX | DU | PRESBYTE | RIEN | |
105.5 | Sinai | Stereo. RDS: FM 105.5 | |
106.3 | Providence | ||
Correct as of 30 June, 2016 |