Santo Domingo DR SDR

[wildthangjim]

I've been checking out the TWR SDR in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for the last few evenings. Their sunset is just before 6PM CDT. Around that time, stations from South America start to come up. The most interesting thing I've heard so far is Radio del Plata 1030 from Argentina, dominating the frequency at this evening at 6:00pm CDT. As the hour wore on, the Colombians started to take over 1030 with Antena 2 from Cali the one I could ID. On Saturday night after 7:00 CDT, the dial was full of Colombian futbol, the same match on multiple stations. What's interesting is, at least at that time, there was virtually nothing from Cuba audible, even closer to Havana sunset. They may have their loop oriented toward South America (and PJB!)

I have not had a chance to listen later in the evening to see what might be listenable from the US/Canada. However, if your Spanish is better than mine, you could have some fun DXing the South Americans.

http://dr.twrmon.net:8073/

 

[DavidEduardo]

What's interesting is, at least at that time, there was virtually nothing from Cuba audible, even closer to Havana sunset. They may have their loop oriented toward South America (and PJB!)

Decades of DXing experience in Puerto Rico showed me that east-west skywave reception in the Caribbean is very poor. I DXed from various locations both on the NE coast of the Island and on the southern coast around Guánica and found Dominicans weaker than expected and Cubans not highly present, even with high power.

But numerous local channel 100 watt stations in Brasil were heard, along with plenty of low power upper dial Colombians and quite a few from Ecuador and Perú, too.

 

[Miss Tuned]

The quality of some of the local stations leaves much to be desired. The clipped, distorted mess on 950 is unlistenable - the transmitter sounds like it's about to expire. Surely locals don't put up with this crap?

Presumably most people listen to FM stations, and these AMs are there for legacy purposes with no/few listeners in 2021.

 

[DavidEduardo]

The quality of some of the local stations leaves much to be desired. The clipped, distorted mess on 950 is unlistenable - the transmitter sounds like it's about to expire. Surely locals don't put up with this crap?

Presumably most people listen to FM stations, and these AMs are there for legacy purposes with no/few listeners in 2021.

You are correct. The majority of listening in the DR has been to FM going back to the mid-80's. Many AMs have left the air, and the remaining ones are struggling.

Interestingly, one FM, Z-101, has been #1 since 1986, led by it's socio-political morning show, El Gobierno de la Mañana which gets larger audiences than even the leading prime time TV show and is also widely heard via streaming.

 

[wildthangjim]

Decades of DXing experience in Puerto Rico showed me that east-west skywave reception in the Caribbean is very poor. I DXed from various locations both on the NE coast of the Island and on the southern coast around Guánica and found Dominicans weaker than expected and Cubans not highly present, even with high power.

That seems consistent with what I'm hearing on this SDR. The frequencies with strong Cubans here in Houston (640, 710 etc) seem to be all South America on the SDR. The 3 Cubans I've ID'd so far are all Radio Reloj with low powers listed.

My biggest problem (along with my rudimentary Spanish) is just not knowing the dial well enough. It's fun trying, though.