As outlined in a previous post, Larry Horlick VO1FOG in Newfoundland heard a trans-Atlantic Spanish radio station on 88.8 MHz on the 21st of June 2021. Thanks to recordings that Larry has sent on to me, another Spanish radio station has now been identified.
This one was RNE Radio 3 on 95.8 MHz from the 100 kW transmitter at Navacerrada near Madrid.
The distance to Newfoundland is in the region of 3940 kms and it was very likely to have been due to double hop Sporadic-E as outlined in the previous post.
As well as the distance being 200 kms or so longer, it's interesting to note that the maximum usable frequency (MUF) for this double hop trans-Atlantic path was 7 MHz higher and well into the Band 2 broadcast band.
This is a recording of the signal on 95.8 MHz as it was heard in Newfoundland...
This matches the podcast for the RNE Radio 3 programme on the day. Link HERE
Credit: Thanks to FM DXer Paul Logan in the north of Ireland who helped identify this station and who also heard a FM radio station in Quebec during the same opening.
Sporadic-E footprint: It's interesting to see how the path from Madrid to Newfoundland is almost exactly in line with the other reception of the RNE R5 station on 88.8 MHz near Zamora.
Sporadic-E openings on the 88-108 MHz band are often like this with the stations heard stretched out in a straight line.
In Conclusion: I have covered the likely propagation mode in the earlier post which is HERE. As well as the distance and frequency of this second report, I am also struck by it's symbolism.
If a FM transmitter on 95.8 MHz serving Madrid, the capital of Spain can be heard across the North Atlantic in Newfoundland then what can FM Dxers and other radio enthusiasts in the Iberian Peninsula hear from North America?
And on a final note. Larry observes that there were MANY other radio stations in Spanish during this opening. We were able to identify just two from the audio recordings.
Mystery Station: There is a third and final recording but it's just a song.
It is the song 'Black Velvet' from Alannah Myles and it was heard from 11:55 UTC to 11:59 UTC on 89.9 MHz. Station? Location?
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Update - 27th June 2021: The mystery third station has now been identified as Los 40 Classic. A visitor to the blog (FinnDX) saw the comment above about the mystery station and then used this website to check back through the playlist of stations for the last week... https://onlineradiobox.com/
This is a composite of a screen capture that I took before it disappeared. The website seems to be showing what the time was in my location which is an hour ahead of UTC during the Summer months.
