Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Greece shortwave monitoring update


GREECE 15630 ERA 5 Athens Avlis. Foreign language service in English/French/Spanish at
0700-1000 UTC.
I checked the ERA Athens foreign service in 0700-1000 UT slot on Jan 8/9/10. Noted English 0700, Fr 0800, Sp 0900 UT news and magazine feature, like international news, local Greece weather report for tourists.
Program of 60 minutes duration each. News also at half hour xx.30 in En&Fr, but not in Spanish. I guess only local MW 665/666 and FM channel announced. Schedule and SW frequency given in Greek language on the transmission end at 09.59:30 UTC.
15630 kHz channel selection in European winter season is far too high.
9935 or 11645 would be a better choice to serve all Europe. Athens should use the STATHMOS MAKEDONIAS antenna and 9935 kHz channel for better coverage. 15630 at 0700 UT skips over my head, poor S=5-7, some days full fade-in properly very late at about 0850 UT. But still fade down interruption occurs often even in the 0900-1000 UTC portion, depending on
propagation condition. Transmission noted again bad audio feeder, which suffered by 20% Greek audio UNDERNEATH, or an audio mixture at Avlis Greece tx site occured?, of parallel Greek service, which is powerhouse on 9420 and 12105 kHz at same time.
At 0800-1200 (Tues only) usual maintenance BREAK, but varying, sometimes at 0830-1130 UTC only.
Need further check on Saturday morning, whether ERA 5 English/French/Spanish service
scheduled 6 days a week. Greek to Europe noted also on 7475 kHz til approx. 0600 UT, and 9420 & 12105[toAF] at 0600-1000 UTC. (wb, Jan 8/9/10)

English transmissions:
Sat 1405-1500; Sun 1105-1200; Mon 0030-0130
(Rumen Pankov-BUL, wwdxc BC-DX Jan 5)
(Source: WWDXC-Top News (BC-DX # 790)