Medium Wave Stations heard in Cork, Ireland at noon

Freq. (KHz)	Station Name	Location	Power (KW)	Distance (kms)	Notes
531	???	???	X	X	Something very weak and in the noise. Possibly Spanish but too weak to identify.
558	???	???	X	X	Something very weak and in the noise. Possibly Spanish but too weak to identify.
567	RTE Radio One	Tullamore	500	170	Good signal.
630	BBC Radio Cornwall	Lanner, Redruth, Cornwall	2	280	Fair signal but with a lot of noise.
639	???	???	X	X	Too weak to identify
657	BBC Radio Cornwall	Bodmin, Cornwall	0.5	~300	Weak and very noisy.
693	BBC Radio 5 Live	Start Point, Plymouth, Dorset	50	370	Fair signal with some noise. (Assumption that it is Start Point and not Droitwich)
711	France Info	Rennes, Brittany, France	300	660	Weak with a lot of noise.
729	RTE Radio One	Cork	10	-	Local transmitter. Very strong.
756	BBC Radio 4	Lanner, Redruth, Cornwall	2	280	Weak with a lot of noise.
801	BBC Radio Devon	Barnstable, Devon	2	300	Fair signal but with a lot of noise.
855	???	???	X	X	Something buried in the noise.
882	BBC Radio Wales	Washford, Somerset, England	100	350	Good signal. Some noise.
909	BBC Radio 5 Live	Clevedon, Somerset	80	380	Good signal with some noise.
990	BBC Radio 5 Live	Tywyn, near Aberstwyth, W Wales	1	300	Weak and very noisy.
1026	???	???	X	X	Too weak to identify
1053	TalkSPORT	Start Point, Plymouth, Devon	100	370	Fair signal but with a lot of noise.(Assumption that it is Start Point and not Droitwich)
1089	TalkSPORT	Washford, Somerset	400	470	Fair signal. A lot of rapid fading for some reason. (Assumption that it is Washford and not Moorside Edge near Manchester)
1152	Classic Gold - Plymouth	Plumer Barracks, Plymouth	0.32	330	Fair signal with a lot of noise.
1170	Swansea Sound	Winsh-wen, Swansea, S Wales	0.58	300	Fair signal. Some noise.
1197	Virgin Radio	Torbay, S Devon	1	360	Fair signal with some noise.
1215	Virgin Radio	Washford, Somerset	160	350	Good signal. (Assumption that it is Washford and not Moorside Edge)
1260	Classic Gold 1260	Mangotsfield, Bristol	1.6	400	Weak to Fair. Noisy.
1368	Manx Radio	Douglas, IOM	20	360	Weak and noisy.
1404	France Info	Brest, Brittany	20	500	Good signal. Some noise.
1485	RMC Info	Brest, Brittany	1	500	Fair signal. Some noise.

Some Notes...

1) Equipment - All signals were heard using a Kenwood TS-140 radio and a 40 metre long wire antenna approx 5 m above ground level. The local environment could be described as 'noisy' and far from ideal. Recieving location is about 20 kms North and inland from the South coast.

2) Daytime Only - The signals shown above were heard around local noon, +/- 1 hour. In Cork, during the Summer months, this is at approx 13:36 or 1:36 pm. At this time, the sun is due South and at it's highest in the sky. Signals heard at this time of day are 'Groundwave' and not 'Skywave' (See below)

3) Ground Wave & Sky Wave. Ground wave signals are those that follow the curvature of the Earth and diminish with distance. They travel a lot further over water than over land. Skywave signals appear at night and are signals that are 'reflected' back off the Earth's ionosphere which is approx 120 kms up. As a result, all of Europe can be heard at night but only 'local' signals are heard during the daytime. By listening as close as possible to your local noon (+/- 1hr), you can be pretty sure that any signals that you hear will be via Ground Wave.

4) Why listen to Ground Wave signals? There are several reasons...
a) Signals tend to be steady and don't suffer as much interence as they do at night
b) Some of the weaker stations can only be heard during the daytime. They can be wiped out by much stronger European stations at night.
c) By seeing what you can hear, it is a good test of your radio and aerial system on Medium Wave. The more you can hear, the better your set up is.

5) Sea Paths versus Land Paths. As you can see from the distribution of stations heard on the map above, most of those stations shown have sea paths to Cork. This gives a good example of how Medium Wave signals travel a lot further over water.

© John Desmond 2007. Last Updated May 2007