AWR On MW – Asia & ME

This article was originally material for a broadcast of “Wavescan” via Adventist World Radio and now forms part of the Radio Heritage Collection ©. All rights reserved to Ragusa Media Group, PO Box 14339, Wellington, New Zealand. This material is licenced on a non-exclusive basis to South Pacific DX Resource hosted on radiodx.com for a period of five years from March 1st 2003. Author: Adrian Peterson

AWR Relays on Mediumwave – Asia & the Middle East

It was back on October 1, 1971 that the first broadcast was heard from the new international broadcasting unit, Adventist World Radio. At the time, this programming was entirely on shortwave for the purpose of speaking to international listeners located in distant countries where it was not possible to reach them on local mediumwave or FM.

Just five years later, AWR made its first venture into the field of international broadcasting on mediumwave. In the spring of 1976, even before the AWR shortwave station KSDA was constructed on the island of Guam, a series of broadcasts in Chinese was launched from the Portuguese enclave, Macau.

The station was the commercial facility Radio Macau, the frequency was 738 kHz, and the power was 10 kW. The intended coverage area was mainland China, inland from Macau. These broadcasts began in the Spring of 1976 and they were on the air for nearly eight years, ending in 1984.

A similar project was enacted from Hong Kong three years later for similar coverage of mainland China inland from Hong Kong. In 1979, AWR programming in Chinese was placed on the commercial stations of Radio TV Hong Kong, with 10 kW on two different channels, 675 & 864 kHz. This series of broadcasts was likewise phased out in 1984.

Meanwhile, over in Southern Asia, the broadcasts of the Adventist health program, “Your Radio Doctor” with Dr. Clifford Anderson, had been on the air shortwave & mediumwave, for more than twenty years. When the Poona office of AWR-Asia was officially organised in 1976, this programming was taken over by the new AWR unit. It was during this time period that the old DX program, “Radio Monitors International”, was also on the air mediuwmave in Sri Lanka.

A total of five different mediumwave stations in Sri Lanka carried AWR programming in English for a period of 13 years, culminating at the end of the year 1988. These stations were:-

Diyagama (DEE-a-GAHM-a) 920 kHz 25 kW
Jaffna 864 20
Amparai (AMP-a-RYE) 693 20
Senkadagala (SEN-ka-da-GAH-la) 666 1
Welikada (VELL-a-KAH-da) with 1 kW on several different channels over a period of time.

For a short period of a few months in 1978, AWR programming in the Garo (GAH-ro) language was on the air from Bangladesh Betar (BAY-TAH) in Dhaka (DAHK-a), Bangladesh. The government radio station in Bangladesh asked for this programming to meet a special need up in the northern frontier areas. The huge mediumwave transmitter was rated at 1,000 kW on 693 kHz.

Over in the Middle East, Radio Yerevan (YE-ra-VAN) in Armenia carried AWR programming in Arabic & Farsi for a couple of years beginning in October 1996. The massive transmitter at Kamo (KAH-MOE) in Armenia was rated at 1,000 kW on 1341 kHz, and the equally massive antenna system was a series of curtain antennas almost one mile long.

AWR – Relays on Mediumwave

Asia & Middle East

Time Lines

——————————————————————————————————————
Country City Station kHz kW MHz Years
——————————————————————————————————————
Sri Lanka Diyagama SLBC 920 25 1976 – 1979
Diyagama SLBC 918 25 1979 – 1988
Jaffna SLBC 864 20 1980 – 1983
Amparai SLBC 693 20 1981 – 1988 Senkadagala SLBC 666 1 1983 – 1983
Welikada SLBC 875 1 1976 – 1979
Welikada SLBC 975 1 1976 – 1980
Welikada SLBC 984 1 1978 – 1980
Welikada SLBC 985 1 1979 – 1979
Welikada SLBC 1321 1 1980 – 1981
Welikada SLBC 1303 1 1981 – 1981
Welikada SLBC 1305 1 1981 – 1981

China Macau R Macau 738 10 1976 – 1984

China Hong Kong RTVHK 675 10 91.7 1979 – 1984
864 10 93.3 1979 – 1984

Armenia Yerevan RY 1341 1 MW 1996 – 1997

Bangladesh Dhaka RB 693 1 MW 1978 – 1978
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AWR – Relays on Mediumwave
Asia & Middle East
References

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Location Station Information & Reference
——————————————————————————————————————
Hong Kong RTVHK 675 kHz 10 kW 91.7 MHz Sat 2200-2230; AWR Sched 1.79
864 kHz 10 kW 93.3 Mhz Sun 2230-2230; AWR Sched 1-79
675 kHz 10 kW 91.7 MHz Sat 2200-2230; AWR Sched 5-84
864 kHz 10 kW 93.3 Mhz Sun 2230-2230; AWR Sched 3-84
AMP QSL card HKCB 91.7 MHz 0600 UTC 10-5-80
AMP QSL card HKCB 675 kHz 10 kW 0600 UTC 10-5-80

Macau R Macau Began AWR relay Spring 1976; AWR-E News
738 kHz 10 kW Sun-Thu 2300-2330; AWR Schedule 4-77
738 kHz 10 kW Sun-Thu 2300-2330; AWR Schedule 5-84
AMP QSL card RM 738 kHz 10 kW 1900 UTC 9-5-80
QSL letters RM commercial station

Armenia Yerevan Began Oct 27 1996 857 874; AWR Schedules
Began Oct 1996; RNB 4-4 12 YE 1996
Began Sun Oct 27 new transmission period; WS98
1 MW 1314 kHz at Kamo antrenna 2 kM long; WS98
1430-1600 daily Arabic & Farsi; WS98

Sri Lanka 7-10-76 to 31-12-88, see additional table

Bangladesh Garo 1106 UTC 693 kHz 1000 kW 1978
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