If you listen for radio stations in the the USA or Canada then you will surely know that many of them broadcast with directional antennas. This of course can help or hinder your chance of reception so you need to know what stations are doing. Many years ago one could buy an excellent book that showed all the radiation patterns but of course nowadays computers can do this job more accurately and be kept up to date with the most recent data changes.
We are pleased to launch a software tool by Bill Scott WE7W that will map the radiation pattern of all MW transmitters in North America. Radio Data Medium Wave (RDMW) will do this for daytime, nighttime and even critical hours. And the radiation pattern is superimposed on Google Maps so you can scroll around the globe and zoom in to even see the transmitter masts!
Not only that but RDMW will ray trace from the transmitter to your receiver, calculating the exact path a signal will take and its great circle distance. You can even see how much signal is being radiated in your direction and whether you are likely to hear a particular station.
RDMW has been adapted by the Circle into six regional editions, based upon where you might be listening, but of course you can set your receiver anywhere you wish in the software. You can download RDMW for a small admin charge from the Circle's website. Find out more here:
We hope this will serve as a useful DXing tool.
Steve Whitt - MWCircle
via Bruno Pecolatto-AIR130
