The German radio station Oldiestar, which broadcasts to Brandenburg and Berlin on 96.7 and 104.9 FM as well as on DVB-T, has added a mediumwave service for Berlin. The station’s website says it is using a 20 kW transmitter at the Zehlendorf transmitter site in Oranienburg, with a 129 metre high antenna. The station plays hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s.
(Source: Oldiestar)
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 12:58
they also (according to drm.org, I have also heard them in the recent past) broadcast on DRM 24 hours a day….not that I suppose many people are listening on DRM…
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 13:04
Ah, I thought I had seen this station mentioned somewhere before. Was the DRM on 603 kHz? If so, that means they have switched DRM off and reverted to AM.
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 13:11
drm.org lists 1485 kHz, for what it’s worth
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 13:16
Thanks. http://www.emwg.info still lists it, as well as new 603 kHz.
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 13:46
1485 kHz is a low power transmitter at the Schäferberg FM site. I have not heard about it being switched off, but this not necessarily means the noise is still on air (have I seen it demonstrated on the IFA DRM booth? I think no). The 1485 kHz signal has first been activated for IFA 2003, then reactivated for IFA 2005, first with RBB radioeins program audio, then with Oldiestar. It used to be a synchronized network, with two further transmitters at Berlin-Frohnau and Rüdersdorf, which have meanwhile been dismantled again.
Perhaps Oldiestar is more widely known for the 1575 kHz transmissions from Burg, daytime with a 100 kW transmitter into a conventional self-radiating mast, evenings/nights with a 500 kW transmitter into a vertical incidence antenna that consists of a group of three dipoles. Here in August 2006 a pilot project started, with a mixture of Oldiestar in DRM and Voice of Russia in analogue. These transmissions ceased in last May, for obvious reasons.
And 603 kHz is a Transradio TRAM 50 transmitter, run at 20 kW and diplexed with 693 kHz into the same antenna. It went on air in 2001 for Voice of Russia, replacing the Köpenick site within Berlin (in the Dammheide forest between Mahlsdorf and Uhlenhorst) that started to relay Voice of Russia in 1996. This site has in 2001 been completely closed and the mediumwave transmitters of what is now Media Broadcast been moved to Zehlendorf.
603 kHz is no longer in use by Voice of Russia because they moved to 693 kHz in last year. 693 kHz is a TRAM 200, run at 250 kW. It first carried the obscure Megaradio, later it had been used to test analogue/digital hybrid transmissions. These tests ceased in last year, the transmitter reverted to plain AM with 250 kW carrier power and 603 kHz had been turned off.
So now 603 kHz carries Oldiestar. It has been switched on yesterday without much fanfare or big frequency allocation procedures. At least it does not appear to be a mere transmitter test, since Oldiestar promotes 603 kHz on air rather prominently now.
And concerning the site, since this often leads to confusion: Zehlendorf now belongs to the municipality of Oranienburg, but it is geographically a separate village 10 km east/northeast of this town. This is the 177 kHz longwave site, used also for mediumwave since 2001 as described above. And, first of all, this village is not to be confused with the Zehlendorf district of Berlin.
on Dec 10th, 2009 at 16:22
Nice input and info from Kai, many thanks.
Frohe Weihnachten und ein gluckliches Neues Jahr.
on Dec 11th, 2009 at 11:15
The 1575 was in DRM with oldiestar, evenings in analouge to Russian service.
603 kHz can be audible at the swedish southcoast at dayligth hours.
on Mar 12th, 2010 at 15:52
Very good signal in Szczecin (Stettin - Poland).!!!
Nice greetings
on Mar 12th, 2010 at 16:22
However, you got more listners on am than on the net only.