MH,

Sounds Good, I'd Vote for It !
- - - Ooops I'm NOT a Canadian )

jftfoi ~ RHF
..
..
= = = "http://CBC.am/"
= = = wrote in message ...
50 kw for a domestic shortwave relay service is practical.

http://cbc.am/cbc.htm

Canada's rural and northern populations are not served by AM & FM radio
stations during daytime hours. The lack of daytime radio service is a
disservice to the people in these remote regions. The CBC / SRC has pretty
much failed its mandate to provide adequate radio service to these remote
regions since the 1980s.

Most of Canada's remotely populated areas can be reached by only two
shortwave transmission sites. Shortwave is an ideal media for delivering
radio programming to remote regions during daytime hours. The proposal
before you is for the site that could serve western and northern Canada. The
transmitter site is in British Columbia.

Technical Notes

A second transmitter could be added to this shortwave relay site. The two
transmitters could use the same antenna with the aid of a multiplexer. With
a second transmitter the output power (of both transmitters) could be
reduced to 30 kw. A second transmitter does not imply that the 2
transmitters would be used continuously. It is expected that the two
transmitters would only be used simultaneously during prime listening hours.
The two transmitters would run in parallel around 8 hours / day, out of an
18 hours / day transmission schedule.

It is assumed that compatible DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) AM [+ digital
subcarriers] will be the primary transmission mode. DRM consumes 10 khz of
andbandwidth is highly robust. DRM allows for high quality digital audio
transmission over very long distances.

These computations are not fully optimized. The frequency and antenna types
may need to be (slightly) altered to optimally achieve the goal of covering
75% of Canada's landmass with a reliable SW service. Radio Canada
International's Sackville Relay Station could be expected to fill in the
gaps that this transmitter site is not able to reach with a similar
transmission system.

Masset, BC was chosen because it allows for an all water path. Water is
highly reflective of RF energy in the 500 khz to 25 mhz range. This
reflectivity greatly decreases signal loss, making the critical first hop
into the ionosphere more productive. It is estimated that the transmitter
output power is reduced by 50 kw by using this technique.

Multilingual Broadcasting
It is expected that some SRC programmes and news will be transmitted to the
western provinces and northern territories, but it is not expected to be
more than 2 hours / day. Some programming in northern languages from CBC
North is also expected to be transmitted as well, but no more than 2 hours /
day.


While not wanting to get into the pirate argument, do note that the FCC
regulations establish a *minimum* power of 50kw for International
Broadcast Stations. (there doesn't seem to be any maximum!)

50kw requires a far more expensive transmitter than most pirates could
afford. The domestic shortwave relays operated by a handful of Canadian
MW stations (CFRX Toronto etc.) seem to demonstrate that with careful
frequency selection, usable coverage can be obtained with much lower
powers.

(they do also seem to demonstrate that even at lower powers these
operations don't make economic sense...)
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com