[IRCA] Note to editors on Korean transmitter locations

["Chris Kadlec" <beaglebass@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

As mentioned to Gary in his note about receiving 603 (KBS 2 Seoul), I mentioned that 603 is not in Namyang-eup. I often see this very outdated information in station databases, especially those which are run by the older folks in the hobby (no offense, of course!!!) and never blame any DXer for using the locations or old city names that I too often see in station databases. So just a note on some of these stations and Korean locations and proper Romanization - those who edit these guides and want them up-to-date for Korean stations, just let me know and I'll fix all your errors so they're up to date and reflect proper spelling and locations, as many new cities are built in Korea every year and old villages are absorbed into suburbs regularly.

Here is the original message I sent to the totally-innocent Gary but decided it was better sent to those who have the power to change their station guides as a benefit to everyone who uses them:

About 603, it is in Songsan-myeon, a different administrative division of Hwaseong, while neighbouring 1134 is just down the highway in Mado-myeon, also part of Hwaseong. There are no tower sites in Namyang (it's all part of the city of Hwaseong and Koreans would call all those locations "Hwaseong" if talking to another person or describing where they reside), and while it is awfully close to both tower sites, I'm not sure who has listed it as such or perhaps if many years ago there was a consolidation, though it would be quite highly unlikely for an -eup (town) to downgrade its land to a -myeon (rural township). Hwaseong is the largest city in the country I believe, and "city" in China and Korea is more like "county" in North America actually, so there are some differences when reporting locations to start with.

Of course, this is more a note to those who maintain the station databases with these old village names that are sometimes still correct, but that nobody in Korea uses anymore in these modern times, especially given the fact many of them have been entirely overtaken by urban and suburban sprawl. I believe 711 is still refered to as "Sorae," which is another instance of this, perhaps 20 years before it became a highly urbanized area - the village is a neighbourhood of Incheon (a city of 3 million, part of the Seoul metro area of 19 million) and is full of apartment high-rises and lost its name many years ago, only living on through the names of local parks, apartments, and a local subway station).

I also see a lot of the radio databases still using the now-ancient pre-2000 Romanization such as Cheju (Jeju) and Taegu (Daegu), etc., a system that only North Korea still uses. But I digress :-). I realize I am younger and that for many DXers, these old names are names that existed through much of your lifetimes and that 2000 is still rather recent - for myself as well, in fact.

I made sure to fix all such instances with Bruce in the PAL guide anyway and anyone else who runs databases with Korean stations, I'd be more than happy to sift through your listings and correct these decades-old Romanizations and non-existent locations for better accuracy. After all, when you want to find more information about a location, it's hard to Google it when your original data is misspelled or uses old tower sites that have long been taken down.

As long as I'm in the position to help, I'd be happy to! (Just don't ask for help with the Chinese stations, because that is one mess I will not touch, though I will happily listen to station IDs and report back on them as I regularly do for some in Europe these days).

-Chris Kadlec
 Seoul AM Radio Listening Guide
 http://www.beaglebass.com/dx/seoul/
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