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Crimea, Ukraine, August 2001. My FM observations. | |
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This is a sample of FM reception at the south coast of Crimea peninsula, Ukraine. I've been there on holiday in August 2001. My QTH was Laspi Bay, to the west of Foros, about 25 km of Sevastopol. Cape Sarych and Cape Aya isolate the bay from nearby cities, therefore even FM broadcasters from Sevastopol did not sound strong. By the way, there's a mountain range immediately to the north-east, and it hides most signals from Ukraine and Russia in LW/MW, too. For example, MW transmitter in Simferopol, the main city of Crimea, propagated much worse than numerous Bulgarian/Romanian stations in the same band.
All observations were copied here from my traveller's notepad, in chronological order. Three days especially pleased me:
Locations of state-run Turkish transmitters (TRT networks) have been determined with the aid of list compiled by Niels A. Holst (I found it on the Internet). List is dated by 1997. I guess there were no large changes in the state radio since then, but commercial stations' pattern is more dynamic, and I'm afraid the list is not so reliable in reflecting it.
Music program began at 0950, with songs performed by Diana Gurtzkaya, Britney Spears, etc. 104.2 — Radyo Sweet. ID at 0945, jingle, Western-type music. Most probably, from Turkey. 102.5 — Bulgarian station at 0946. Heard many times later, too. It's a Horizont relay in Bourgas. 88.8 — TRT 1 in Turkish at 1118. In parallel with LW frequency 198 kHz. Heard strongly and regularly, almost every day. WRTH does not mention TRT 1 relays in FM at all. Located either in Trabzon or in Zonguldak. 89.6 — Turkish songs at 1119. I thought that heard an ID "Uzgenç Radyo", but search by name in Internet and handbooks did not lead to any positive result. During subsequent days, I noted Radyo Müjde from Istanbul on this frequency. 106.5 — English songs at 1752. Melodious ID "te-re-te ef-em". The first "te" sounded in a vague way, as "pe" or "be". But I don't think Turkey has its own PRT or BRT. 107.0 — Radyo Bürüç, Turkey, with ads at 1756. 105.7 — CNN Radio News relay at 1801-1802, followed bu Turkish ads. ID as "Hot Station". 98.0 — Spanish-speaking station from Turkey: "Ritmo Latino en la noventa y ocho FM" (ID at 1808). 94.7 — Radyo Beş, Istanbul ("beş" is the Turkish for "five"). 1813-1817, S=4. ID, slogans, songs. 89.6 — Christian program in English. I presume it was again Radyo Müjde, Istanbul. 95.5 — long, long chain of advertisements! It lasted more than 10 minutes, from 1310 till 1321. Station is located in Zonguldak, Turkey. Internet search resulted in Radyo Kulüp ("kulüp" is the Turkish for "club"). Songs after 1321. 100.5 — Joy FM, Istanbul. Excellent signal. English songs at 1437, ID with mention of the frequency at 1439. 107.4 — unidentified, with English songs of the 70s (ABBA, Pink Floyd, etc.). Listened from 1453 till 1505, and was surprised when didn't heard any announcement at the top of the hour. In later days, Romanian station Europa FM was audible here, but only in the mornings. 98.0 — Turkish ads at 0943, ID "Ritmo Latino en la 98 FM", songs in Spanish. Faded out by 0959. 88.6 — Star FM (or Sar FM), Turkey. Turkish songs. 1144-1158. 87.5 — Unid Turkish at 1204. Ads, followed by ID, but there was a disturbance in the signal right at that moment. "..... FM, Radyo Music Stasionu" -- but I couldn't catch the word said before "FM". 89.0 — Lokum FM, Istanbul. The first station in a row of identified private broadcasters from Istanbul. Good signal, 1208-1218. Songs and talks. 89.3 — Alem FM, Istanbul, at 1219. Turkish rock, ads, ID, jingles. 87.9 — weak unid Turkish. At 1224 announced the time (1524 in Turkey), faded out very soon. 88.2 — classical music. Announcement in Turkish at 1225, Debussi mentioned. I presume it's TRT 3 in Istanbul. Emphasis on classic and rock is a visit card of TRT 3. 89.6 — Radyo Müjde, Istanbul, 1225-1233. 100 percent identified this time. English pops, ads of some books and translations. 89.9 — Show Radyo, Istanbul, 1308-1314. Songs, talk about football. Ads and ID. 90.1 — Radyo Viva (Istanbul???), 1315-1322. ID and ads: "Radyo Viva - Reklam". Songs. 90.3 — Kiss FM, 1325-1331. English songs, announcement at 1329, with words "Istanbulda" (i.e. in Istanbul) and "frekanslarda" (i.e. on frequencies). Didn't manage to copy frequency values, though. 103.4 — Radio Varna, Bulgaria, 0425-0435. Songs, frequency listing (981 kHz MW and 103.4, 88.5, 88.7, 88.9 MHz FM). News at 0430. 107.4 — Europa FM, Romania, 0601-0607. News, ID, jingles, music. Location is unknown to me. Poor, S=2. 91.1 — Radio Contact, Romania, 0947-0955. Songs, ID, ads. Transmitter in Constanta. 100.9 — Horizont, Bulgaria. 0958-1001. Transmitter in Varna. 90.0 — very weak, end of news in French at 1109, followed by news in German. News ended at 1111, some music played, announcer said something in Turkish (illegibly). Some time later, I discovered a few parallels and realized that it was TRT 3. Program is relayed on this frequency in several Turkish cities. In my opinion, the most possible location was Kastamonu, in about 70 km off the Black Sea coast. 90.8 — TRT 3, 1114-1130. Songs (Foreigner, etc.), ID at 1130. Transmitter in Samsun. 99.2 — TRT 3, 1726-1805. Music (included ocarina solo). Transmitter in Zonguldak. 99.2 — TRT 3 again, 1044-1100 and later. Organ music. News in foreign languages (English, French, German) at 1100. Program entitled "Rock tarihi" (Rock History), featuring music of Bing Crosby. So much serious music — that's why I liked to listen to TRT 3. 105.7 — Info Radio, Bulgaria. 0850-0901. Announced its frequency in Bourgas — 107.1 MHz (105.7 comes from Varna, then). Ads of Metalsnab company at 0853. Time pips at 0900, followed by news. 106.8 — Darik Radio, Bulgaria. 0901-0908. News, with ID inserted. Transmitter in Varna. 106.5 — Radio Iujen Briag, Bourgas, Bulgaria. 0910-0916. Weak, S=2. Songs, short info, ads. 104.8 — Christo Botev program, Bulgaria. 0917-0924. Talk with Mr Dimitrov about fine arts. Came in parallel with well-known MW channel 828 kHz. 100.3 — Radio Plus, Bulgaria. 0925-0932. Good signal. Songs, ads. 103.9 — Mix FM, Romania. 0437-0448. Music (heavy style), weather, listeners' phone-in competition on football matters. 87.5 — unid Italian, 1211-1216. Music, dialog in studio. 88.0 — Radio Maria, Italy, 1220-1224. Program hosted by Roberta, she answered numerous phone calls from listeners. 87.9 — Radio Arcobaleno, Italy, 1225-1228. Song in Italian, slogan "R.Arcobaleno ... colore a acua vita...". According to their website information (www.radioarcobaleno.com), transmitter is located in Monte Cammarata, Sicily. 88.2 — unid Italian, 1228-1234. Two songs: the first with guitar accompaniment, the second to the piano. 99.9 — unid Italian, 1235-1242. Talk about liguistics and expression rhytmes; then a voice of woman opera singer sounded. Judging by the style, it might be one of central RAI programs. WRTH lists several transmitters of RAI 3 on this frequency. 98.3 — unid Italian, 1243-1247. Talks every now and then, with music in the background. Phone number 125 41 41 announced. 97.8 — Radio Donna Network, Italy, 1248-1253. Pop song, rhytmic but a little heavy, ID at 1251. Announced a single frequency 98.30 MHz, probably it was a new or changed one. 97.5 — unid Italian, 1254-1258. Ads: Cosmic Move, new aquapark. 107.7 — unid Italian, 1303-1306. No clear ID. I've noticed something similar to "Selemi, la Radio Vita"; but even Dario Monferini, a well-known expert on broadcasting in Italy, could say nothing on this matter. 107.5 — unid Italian, 1307-1311. English song, ads (start of football championship, new car Renault Clio). 106.5 — unid Italian, 1312. Manu Chao's song "...te gusta...". 106.3 — Radio Italia, Solo Musica Italiana, 1314-1319. Advertisement of some items on cassettes, ID, song. 107.3 — unid Italian, 1320-1330. Easy and jolly talk in studio, songs, ads with phone numbers. And that's the end of my notes. By the evening of 17 August all Italians disappeared from the air. Next morning I left my holiday place, and the way home began. During my stay in Crimea, I've also compiled a kind of frequency table, and you may find some records of it below. Those stations were not reflected in my notepad for different reasons. Some of them belong to state networks, therefore were not of much interest for writing reception reports. Some others were received during the fast band scan, but disappeared by the moment when I had the time to listen with more attention...
88.3 — TRT 1, Turkey. Not very loud, but regularly. Bozkurt??? I can't find this place on my map. All your comments and corrections are welcome to: dxsignal@inbox.ru. |
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