World Music Radio is back on 15805 kHz

World Music Radio is back on 15805 kHz

After having been off the air on shortwave since September 2019, World Music Radio (WMR) is now back on 15805 kHz using a 3 element yagi beamed south - every Saturday and Sunday at 07-20 UTC. The transmitter power is 200 Watts and the signal is audible almost worldwide for dedicated DXers. However a good receiver, a good aerial and a listening site without man made interference - as well as patience and listening at the right time of the day (when propagation is optimal) - is needed to catch WMR on 15805. Best reception usually is in Southern Europe, but it is also possible to receive 15805 kHz in the Middle East, all over Africa, in parts of South America and the Eastern part of North America. Also in Asia “on a good day”.  Sometimes 15805 suffer from some interference from a Chinese station on 15800 kHz.  Sometimes short skip propagation is providing excellent reception in Central Europe. But propagation is changing all the time and catching the low power signals from WMR on 15805 is really a challenge for DXers in most places – unlike off course catching big international broadcasters with 100,000 – 500,000 Watts of power.   Please note that the signals of WMR on 15805 kHz are only suitable for AM listening, so don’t use SSB.

Reception reports are acknowledged by an eQSL for reports sent to wmr@wmr.dk  - or by a QSL card (as well as stickers and as long as stocks last: a pennant) for reports sent to World Music Radio, PO Box 112, DK-8960 Randers SØ, Denmark (kindly enclose return postage – 2 IRCs, 5 euro or equivalent. Sorry but 1 or 2 USD won’t do).  Please note that reception reports using remote receivers (such as remote Kiwi SDRs) are not QSLed.

There are two reasons for being off air for several months. First the Danish telecom agency refused to give a new license to utilise “out of band frequencies on a non-interference basis”. This issue was however settled, at least temporarily. Second problem was a storm which damaged the yagi aerial. The aerial was repaired a few days ago and it now works very well again - from the transmitter site just north of Randers in Eastern Jutland, Denmark.

Randers also used to be the transmitter site of WMR broadcasting on 5840 kHz (100 Watts) into an inverted V aerial - from January 2018 to September 2019. A new 500 Watts transmitter has been purchased and a new transmitter site for 5840 has been found - and a new dipole aerial will be put up.  It is hoped that 5840 will be back on the air by the end of April 2020. Broadcasting  24 hours a day seven days a week.

The plans to cover Copenhagen on MW 927 kHz are progressing very slowly. However a transmitter site has been found in Hvidovre,  and it is hoped that 927 kHz will be on the air by late June 2020.

Meanwhile World Music Radio can also be heard on the internet via www.wmr.radio and several platforms such as radio.garden, TuneIn, Radio.Net and Streema.

Best 73s

Stig Hartvig Nielsen,   

World Music Radio – Radio208 – Hartvig Media ApS