[IRCA] Croatia not really closing 1134

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

** CROATIA. Hi everyone, According to a news item carried today on the European mail reflector Euroradio, also carried on the French language mail reflector Rglobe, Croatia is to shut down its MW station on 1134 kHz on the 29th of October. Regards, (André Coville, France, Oct 1, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

** CROATIA. Already seen this?
http://www.mail-archive.com/irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/msg52151.html

The date mentioned herein, after multiple reproductions (a more original source would be good), is just the end of the A11 season, so one has to wonder what will become of Glas Hrvatske on shortwave. By the way, all Deanovec transmissions are already for some time now run with a 10 kW transmitter only. "Official" data that still specifies 100 kW is worth nothing. The operator openly explains the 10 kW operation here:
http://www.oiv.hr/broadcasting/terrestrial/analog-radio/analog-radio_en.aspx
All the best, (Kai Ludwig, Germany, DX LISTENING DIGEST) Viz.:

1134-Croatia to Cease Transmitting This Month?

Hello All, According to a report posted on the ODXA reflector by Andre, 1134-Croatia will cease transmitting on October 29th. If so, this will take away one of the very few "big gun" TA signals that west coast DXers could hope to hear when conditions were good.
To my knowledge, 1134-Croatia was the only to TA to have been received
on barefoot Ultralights here on the west coast, having been heard here
(and by Dennis Vroom and others) on a barefoot PL-310 (and Eton E100)
in the autumn of 2009. 73, (Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA), ultralightdx yg via Stephen Airy, IRCA, via Barry Davies, MWC yg via DXLD)

Could this just be a misinterpretation of a program announcement?  For instance, at the end of the 0200 UT English insert on SW, times and frequencies are always announced including the MW outlet. The script always includes a date up to which the MW schedule is valid, usually at the end of an A or B season. I always figured this was to reflect the time change for the transmission due to the change between summer and winter time.

Of course a 600 kW transmitter is expensive to operate, so if Croatian Radio is having a money crunch, this facility could be shut down.  Croatian Radio has an extensive FM network for domestic use, and European listeners can use the 3985 and 7410 frequencies (Steve Luce, Houston, Texas, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Hello, just for your info: About a week ago the state of affairs was such that Zadar 1134 kHz would be in use 18:00-00:45 CET also during B11, just as it is the case right now. So it would be of interest to see the original reports referenced in the American lists. It appears that they should be put aside until further word from the transmitter operator arrives (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 2, DX LISTENING DIGEST)

Croatia signs off at 2345 UT so east coasters still have hours of
darkness to hear them. West coasters will still have a small window of
opportunity in the darkest days (Chuck Hutton, IRCA via DXLD)

Re: Croation [sic; it`s CROATIAN --- gh] MW 1134 --- This may well explain the apparent misunderstanding. Of course the frequency announcement is valid until Oct 29 only because as of Oct 30 the use of 3985 will be extended and 7410/6165 be replaced.

The complete B11 schedule for Glas Hrvatske will be:

Zadar-Nin, 600 kW on 1134:
1700-2345.

Deanovec, 10 kW:
0600-1650 on 7370,
1655-0555 on 3985.

Wertachtal and/or Nauen [GERMANY] and/or Issoudun [FRANCE]:
100 kW each on 7375,
1/ to South America 2300-0400,
2/ to North America East 0000-0400,
3/ to North America West 0200-0600;
different azimuths each, so apparently indeed again three different transmitters.

Singapore, 100 kW to Australia / New Zealand:
0700-1100 on 17860.

The 1134 kHz transmitter has been built during the eighties for coverage of Central Europe, with a directional antenna, providing a gain of 7 dB to this direction, thus also further on towards North America. It was never meant for domestic coverage, thus in previous years only on air from the late afternoon til the next morning. In March of last year the airtime has been cut back to the current few hours in the evening.

Actually the facility is 1200 kW, with a pair of two 600 kW transmitters. In September 1991 its antenna has been damaged in fighting, knocking the station off air until it could return with 600 kW on a makeshift antenna in January 1992. The antenna had been fully restored only in 2003/2004. The power stayed at the 600 kW level used since 1992.

Nin is meanwhile the only active mediumwave transmitter in Croatia. All the other ones, meant for domestic coverage, have been shut down in April 2008. This also included the DRM on 594 that seriously interfered with the use of this frequency in Germany and Bulgaria, thus after some time the DRM testing had been confined to the daytime hours. Meanwhile the co-channel operations that suffered back then do longer exist as well.

And a word about Deanovec: The site has, besides the closed mediumwave transmitters (alongside the DRM one on 594 also a 100 kW on 1125), also one 100 kW and two 10 kW shortwave transmitters. At present only one 10 kW transmitter is in use, and it will be so also during B11 on 7370/3985. Registration data that still reads 100 kW does not reflect the real transmission parameters.

See also
http://www.oiv.hr/broadcasting/terrestrial/analog-radio/analog-radio_en.aspx

Perhaps someone can forward this to the other lists where the item about 1134 kHz circulated (Kai Ludwig, Germany, Oct 3, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)

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