3330 is the stronger signal here in New England at night now. Any Idea why CHU was moved from 7335? Was that portion of the 41 meter band designated strictly for broadcast use?
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CBC shuts down daily time signal
- Thread starter Mark Roberts
- Start date
Every minute had 11 five-second ads, and then the time check. You could buy an ad every minute, every two minutes or every four minutes.
That is correct.
I have been using the KiwiSDR that is based in Ottawa, and 3330 is the strongest signal there as well. The transmitter is located in that area.
More information on CHU can be found on their Wikipedia page.
CHU (radio station) (Wikipedia)
Yes, it was due to the big bad ITU:
Frequency Change for Canadian Time Transmission Station CHU
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
The 41 meter international broadcast band used to run from 7100 to 7300 kHz, and was used in the eastern hemisphere, while being allocated for ham radio (7000-7300) in the Americas. The international band has been moved upwards in recent years to eliminate that usage clash, and to expand the ham allocation worldwide. The 7335 CHU frequency started getting co-channel interference in the 2000s, so CHU moved up to 7850 in 2009. The 41 meter international band will officially wind up on 7300-7600 once the reallocation is completed.
some old timers on facebook are up in arms, getting in a tizzy, all bent out of shape over this.. which makes zero sense
The North American service Radio Prague in English was on 7345 way back when I started SWLing in the late '60s, so the broadcasters must have been taking liberties with the ITU limits for quite a while.
No tizzy here, just curious about this bit of radio history. I guess the CHU discussion is off topic, as the time signal in question was the CBC's, so for that I apologize. But really, I don't care what sort of beeping Auntie Ceeb (Does anyone ever call the CBC that?) does on its domestic transmitters, or if it beeps at all.
Communist Bloc stations were notorious for operating outside the official broadcast bands. Now, the OOB offenders are US religious stations.
“La Hora Exacta” was also simulcast on shortwave for many years on 9555 kHz IIRC. Could hear it all day long in Central Texas. Very unique format! Each of those ads got a huge number of plays. Wonder how big a typical ad buy was?
A few “western” stations also operated outside of the (then) official bands decades ago. The BBC included 7325, 9410, 9915, 12095, 15070 and 18080. Radio Nacional de España had 9360. All India Radio had a few OOBs as well.
Of course the bands have been expanded since then, and some of those frequencies are now “in-band”.
They are operating on a “non-interference” basis and will be required to move if there are any complaints. As empty as the SW bands are becoming (at least in the Western Hemisphere) there have actually been very few problems.
Israel on 9009, Iran on 9122, Turkey on 9445, Egypt on 9475.
Me too! ....David???
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Nobody's posted this yet, so I will. New York Times article (may be paywalled) about the CBC discontinuing the 1 pm long beep, fresh as of 10/17 in the pm:
www.nytimes.com
Time Runs Out on a Canadian Radio Tradition
After 84 years, changes in technology mean that CBC Radio will no longer broadcast the correct time once a day. Many Canadians are mourning the loss.
How many listeners did the station have?
I don't know the rates, but the station had nice studios and offices when I visited in 1963. I've been trying to locate older Medios Publicitarios Mexicanos, the Mexican equivalent of SRDS's Spot Radio from back then but no luck.Me too! ....David???
I remember an article in a Mexican media magazine from the early 60's that was called (translated) "The Strange Case of a Station With No Ratings" about XEQK. Because the station only got one to two minute listening at a time, it got no ratings.
But in the 60's, a watch was a luxury and "everyone" used XEQK to get to school or work on time and to set their notoriously inaccurate wrist watches. When I lived there, It was normal to check the time once a day at least.
How was the stability of the electric current (frequency) back then?
Based on your descriptions, I can imagine that XEQK most have done quite well. Ratings or no ratings. The concept reminfds me of me a little of WWL bacck in the day with "King Edward Cigar Time" and "Delta is Ready When You are" in front of several time checks every hour.
As for SRDS. The B to B edition for trade publications bore only a passing resemblance to the real world when I was in that business. I didn't fault SRDS at all, Just publishers with their rubber rate cards. I was still a big fan of SRDS. Especially since our company had the back spine ad position on each issue!
There are a few Spot Radio Rates and Data from SRDS at SRDS - Spot Radio Rates & Data media buyer guide
I have tried to get more issues, but can't find them anywhere!