[HCDX] FW: World Beacon Test Transmissions

["Andy Sennitt" <andys@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The following has just been received from Scott Westerman at World Beacon:

Greetings friends,

Here is an update on our planned test transmissions from the United Arab
Emirates.

First a little background. For the last year, The World Beacon has relied on
an excellent Merlin transmission facility at Rampisham, England to broadcast
our programming to Africa. We've used a 500 KW transmitter on 9675 KHz from
that location with a southern directional pattern. Our other primary site is
Sentec's Meyerton facility in South Africa. We broadcast in the 3 and 6 MHz
band from this location targeting southern Africa. We have also experimented
with frequencies in the 11, 15 and 17 MHz bands.

9675 KHz has been an excellent worldwide frequency for the Beacon. We have
received favorable reports from around the world on this channel.
Ironically, it has turned out to be less than perfect for our primary target
area due to the phenomenon known as equatorial flutter. The pattern also
leaves much of East Africa unable to reliably hear our broadcasts.

Earlier this year, I set our Merlin engineers on the task of solving this
problem. They have recently begun to manage the transmission facilities in
the United Arab Emirates located in Abu Dhabi. There is an excellent 250 Kw
transmitter there that seems ideally located to give us better African
coverage without the equatorial flutter issue. We had originally planned to
test a 17 MHz frequency from that location, but it has occurred to us that
if we an make 9675 KHz work from Abu Dhabi, it will be a great year-round
frequency that won't need to change with the seasons.

So, we plan to compare 9675 KHz from the UAE with our 9675 facility in
Rampisham. Here's how the test will work. From 18-19 hours UTC and 21-22
hours UTC we will broadcast as per usual from Rampisham. From 19-21 hours,
we will use the Abu Dhabi equipment. We have listening posts throughout the
continent that we will be able to use to compare the quality of the two
transmissions, after which, we will be able to make a decision on whether or
not to shift our operations from England to UAE on 9675 KHz.

At this point, I'm hopeful that the test will commence on Tuesday, April 10.
I'm told that it may take a day or two more to get all the ducks in a row,
but the plan is to test extensively as soon as possible.

How can you know exactly when the test will begin? Three ways. I will be
posting complete details of the test times and dates on our website at
www.worldbeacon.net  Listeners to the Beacon will also hear regular
announcements during the testing period, explaining which transmitter is
currently being used. And finally, I will shoot you all a quick email when
the plans for this test are finalized.

To encourage hobbyists to help us evaluate the world wide impact of this
potential change, we've created a limited edition QSL card to commemorate
the test. We will send this card to anyone who reports reception on 9675
from the UAE during our test period. Reception reports should be sent either
via regular mail to:

THE WORLD BEACON
8133 Baymeadows Way
Jacksonville, FL 32256
USA

or via Email to reception@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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