Ancient DX Report – 1927
The American radio magazine Radio News for October 1927 presented a list of radio broadcasting stations that were recently monitored on shortwave. We have adjusted that list into a more modern format, and we present this off air monitoring information in frequency order :-
- 4690 kHz 2XE Richmond Hill, Long Island NY, USA: This low powered 500 watt shortwave station provides a relay from mediumwave WABC. However this station, which is operated by the Grebe Radio Company, is considered to be experimental, with no set schedule for on air operation.
- 4840 kHz & 21430 kHz 8XK Forest Hills, Pennsylvania, USA: This Westinghouse station is on the air on two shortwave channels in parallel, with 50 kW and 40 kW, almost respectively every evening, with a programming relay from KDKA mediumwave intended for listeners in the United States and beyond. They expect to change frequencies for these broadcasts quite soon and the two new channels will be approximately 5770 kHz and 11540 kHz.
- 5000 kHz JB Johannesburg, South Africa: This is an experimental station that is sometimes on the air on any frequency from 20 – 25 m, or also on approximately 60 m.
- 5765 KHZ 8XAL Harrison Ohio: The Crosley radio programming from mediumwave WLW is relayed every evening over their low powered 100 watt shortwave transmitter 8XAL. Both the mediumwave and shortwave transmitters are installed in an isolated two storey farm house near Harrison, a small town close to the state border with Indiana.
- 7460 kHz AGC Berlin Germany: May be heard on occasions.
- 8110 kHz RA19 Tomsk, State University Siberia: A communication transmitter with 300 watts that is on the air usually one hour a day with program broadcasting. Their QSL card is highly prized.
- 9090 kHz G2NB Caterham Surrey England: The programming from the famous BBC mediumwave station 2LO in London England is heard for one hour in the evenings relayed by the amateur station G2NB. A parallel relay from the same G2NB is heard simultaneously on 13045 kHz.
- 9155 kHz 2XAF South Schenectady, New York, USA: This General Electric shortwave station with 50 kW is on the air every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night with a program relay from the mediumwave WGY.
Clipping from the Sun (Auckland, NZ), 13 June 1927
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Sun (Auckland). For non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence.
- 9375 kHz XWA Drummondville PQ Canada: This experimental shortwave station is operated by the Canadian Marconi company, and when it is on the air, its programming feed is from mediumwave CFCF.
- 9705 kHz 2XAL Roosevelt Hotel New York City USA: This 500 watt experimental shortwave station is owned by the Radio News magazine, and whenever it happens to be on the air, it takes a relay from mediumwave WRNY.
- 9935 kHz PCJJ Eindhoven Holland: This shortwave station is located at the Philips radio factory and it is on the air for a couple of hours on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The programming from PCJJ is always produced specifically for shortwave listeners in other parts of the world. Station PCJJ was officially opened on March 11 (1927). The antenna system for this low powered shortwave operation is beamed to the Dutch colonies in South East Asia, and occasional off air relays from the BBC in London via PCJJ can be heard at a good level in Australia.
- 13625 kHz 2XAD South Schenectady, New York, USA: This 25 kW GE shortwave transmitter is heard four nights a week (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday) also on relay with programming from mediumwave WGY.
- 17240 kHz PKXX Malabar, Java, Dutch East Indies: This distant shortwave station is on the air half a dozen hours each day, except on Sundays and it is often heard in the United States.
More about the 1927 shortwave scene next time.
This feature was written by Adrian Peterson and originally aired on Adventist World Radio’s “Wavescan” DX program of February 6, 2022
Browse the entire Radio News issue for October, 1927:
Scanned PDF © University of Minnesota
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