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The author's 2010 visit to the US Govt's big HF transmitting station in Ban Dung in Northern Thailand and Surveys HF signals the local afternoon., .
OVERVIEW
This blog consists of two parts examining elements of HF broadcasting:
1. The results of a HF study made here in Melbourne by the author on March 12, 2022 across the time span 0400 to 0430
2. A visit by the author to Northern Thailand in June 2010, to survey service effectiveness of Radio Australia in the South Asian region. HF propagation, frequency occupancy
This was in his capacity as a professional engineering consultant for Radio Australia Operations in Melbourne
TThis is a summary of monitoring of March 12 2022. made here in Melbourne, at the big Westerfolds’ Park, in Templestowe on frequencies above 11 MHz during our mid afternoon period across the time span 0400 to 0430. Propagation was dominated by strong daytime sigmas from Asia and the Middle East.
11745 S ARABIA Arabic
11780 IRAN Hebrew from *0423
1
1825 JAPAN NHK Yamata Chinese
11850 CUBA RHC Spanish
11860 S. ARABIA Arabic
11875 IRAN Turkish at *0423
1
3610 CHINA CNR1
13740 CHINA CRI-Kashi Hakka
13790 MADAGASCAR BBC-Talata, Somali
13850 ARMENIA BBC-Yerevan Dari
13860 THAILAND R. Azadi, Udon Thani , Pushto
15160 CHINA CR-Xian Cantonese
15130 CHINA CRI-B Chinese
Above - aerial view of the transmitting station - property perimeter is 12 km. (Google 2022)
i
In
June 2010 I visited the city of Chiang Rai,flying up from
Bangkok, in support of an engineering consultancy research project for
the Australian Government., and on a tour drove past the entrance of the US Govt's large HF relay station, on a trip through Northern Thailand The facility hosts
broadcasts for VoA, Radio Thailand’s international service, VoA’s Radio
Ashna, VoA’s Deewa Radio, Radio Farda, Radio Free Asia,Radio Liberty,
Radio Mashhaal,, R. Azadi (a.k.a. R. Free Afghanistan), and the Bangkok
Meteo Fax service. They all transmit from this site.
The province escaped the terrible December 26 2004 Indian Tsunami Earthquake which destroyed much of the west
coast of Southern Thailand.There is continuing confusion as to the location of she station. Many sources show this at Udon Thani. This is not correct as the capital is also called Udon Thani, a province, and is the major city within the province.
However, the correct location of the transmitting facility is near the village of Ban Dung. . .
Image above: ground level view of antenna masts (Google, 2022)
The district is the site of a Voice of America
(VOA) relay station, opened in 1994. Voice of America gave the
station to Thailand, and was allowed to operate it under a 25-year
renewable lease expiring in 2019. Each of the station's seven shortwave
transmitters is capable of broadcasting 500 kilowatts of power, covering
40 percent of the earth's surface. One of the transmitters is dedicated for use by Radio Thailand. It has sufficient power to
reach the Middle East and the West Coast of the United States, both
areas with large expatriate Thai communities.Currently,(2022) output is reduced to 250 KW for each transmitter
The site is run by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) formerly known as IBB (International Broadcasting Bureau), the technical arm of an independent U.S. Government agency called the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).
Image above: Google Earth view of station, 2022
The station is about 100 km by road from Uon Thani City - that's a long bus trip!
The Sangean 808A, used on all of the Thailand trips
Much of my time was spent in Rest Areas of National Parks, in the Thai jungles, near Ban Dung, having set up a modest receiving station, using a battery-powered portable HF receiver, Sangean 808A, and connected to random antennas tossed into the overhead canopy. This radio is still going strong after all those years, and accompanied me on my many trips in Asia and the Pacific. Picture above in 2022!
I was staying in a swanky Udon Thani hotel), did several bus excursion around the Udon Thani/Chiang Mai areas, visiting sites of tourist and cultural interest including the Elephant Reservation.
I liked Thailand so much that returned there for two further trips:
October 2000 -
one week stay at Patong on thw west coast, where Ii undertook further
t\engineering assessnents of HF spectrum usage, with the Sangean
radio. Beautiful beaches and jungle walks!
March 2001 - special two-week adventure in Southern Thailand, run by Peregrine, on behalf of the Thai Tourist Authority from Bangkok, which was essentially a training course to develop skills and competencies in planning and managing excursions of individuals or small groups in bushland, coasts, fivers, hills, snorkeling, swimming, canoe navigation. Our group was small. Only six guests, four of whom bailed out after one day, leaving only two us and our guide. we stayed in basic National Park huts, cabins,bungalows, shared accommodation, with all facilities. Catering was provided at each cabin., My roommate was an 18yo Thai secondary college student.Ananda, who was on the trip as a reward for winning his college best player award in the local Bangkok schools soccer competition for year 2000. (Image at left - Ananda at Phi Phi Beach)
We developed a very close friendship, did everything together - we had a12hr night sleeper train trip from Bangkok south to Phuket, We were guests of the Phuket Football (Soccer) Club. It was Ananda's18th birthday during our trip so i got him a pair of dark blue board shorts as a present in Phi Phi Island Resort.
Our final destination was the five star Phuket Hotel and Peregrine donated us an extra day and night;accommodation there to commemorate our completion of the very wearying training course. We were interviewed by the local radio station and newspaper.
We were given lots of adventure-type merchandise from the footy club, including shorts, shirts, training jackets sunglasses, watches, sox, baseball caps, running shoes, tourist books, and certificates confirming our satisfactory completion of the training course. We were told that we were the first visitors to complete the course! Yes, it twas extremely hot 35-40 deg, and oppressive humidity. We made sure that the fridges were will stocked with Thai Ice Cream Rolls and cans of soft drinks!
I had the Sangean portable sw radio with us, but serious HF monitoring was not successful due to extreme atmospheric noise from tropical thunderstorm activity.
October 2000 - one week hotel stay at Patong on the west coast, where I undertook further engineering assessments of HF spectrum usage, with the Sangean radio.
RADIO THAILAND EXTERNAL SERVICES - FULL SCHEDULE FROM UDON THANI FROM MARCH 27, 2022 - also known as HSK9
0000-0030 15590 English 6 deg, for Americas/Asia
0030-0200 15590 Thai 6 deg, for Americas
0200-0230 15590 English 6 deg Americas
0500-0530 17640 English 6 deg Americas
1000-1030 17850 Thai 305 deg Middle East
1200-1230 9390 English 132 deg Australia/Asia/India
1230-1245 9390 Vietnamese 132 deg Asia
1245-1300 9390 Oromo 30 deg Asia
RADIO THAILAND Domestic Radio Network
The following link is to an on-line strreaming service of Radio Thailand 93.25 MHz, at Chiang Mai, one of many local radio broadcasters across in Northern Thailand.
Above - Google road map Udon Thani to transmitting station at Ban Dung.
Image below - The main street of Ban Dung - 2022. (Internet)
THAILAND NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK 2019
During the annual Thailand National Science Week, held in the week of
August 19, 2019,
a total of 468 students from five local schools visited the Udon
Transmitting Station. These are some of the very same schools that USAGM provides grants to
each year, to encourage study in the Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics fields.(US Govt Media Report) The photos which follow were taken during the school visit.
I
Inside the station. Picture taken on a school excursion in the main transmitter hall, August 19 2019. Students learning rigging skills (Internet)
Station gardens from main entrance (author visit image June 2010)
Inside the station. Picture taken on a school excursion in the main transmitter hall, August 2019 (Internet)
Image above - Inside
the station. Picture taken on a school excursion, August 19, 2019. Students learning about equipment testing!
(Internet)
Inside
the station. Picture taken on a school excursion in August 19, 2019 .Students learning about heavy lifting techniques by drones
(Internet)
UDON THANI GALLERY
This section features a selection of 2000 and contemporary (2022) still images and links to Videos, showing the Udon Thani region, a popular tourist destination, and some photos of the station.
Radio Thailand celebrated its 88th anniversary in 2018. Image above is ceremony. Below is a link to the media release about the event.
For readers who are so inclined, below is a link to a YouTube video "Gay Nightlife in Bangkok". Be warned, this contains naughty commentary
Flight path Bangkok to Udon Thani
Above Youtube video of the Kamchanod Forest near Ban Dung town.
Above Youtube video of highlights of the Thai Youth Football Championships held in Udon Thani in September 2021. Thailand is obsessed with Soccer. During our March 2001 adventure, we were guests of the Phuket Fooball Club and had a training run with some of the players!
Youtube Video of the Kamchanod Forest near Ban Dung town.
Above: Youtube Video 2021 of the Nong Prajak Park, in Udon Thani city
Above: YouTube video 2021 of a drive around the Ban Dung District near the Radio Station
The beautiful Thai National Anthem, from a beautiful country.
THE 2004 EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI
On
the morning of 26 December 2004, a magnitude 9.1 undersea
earthquake ruptured along a 1200 kilometre tectonic plate boundary off the
west coast of Northern Sumatra and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The
tsunami travelled eastward through the Andaman
Sea and hit the south-western coasts of Thailand,
about 2 hours after the earthquake. Located about 500 km (310 mi) from the
epicentre, at the time, the region was popular with tourists because of
Christmas. Many of these tourists were caught off-guard by the tsunami, as they
had no prior warning. The tsunami hit during high
tide. Major locations damaged included the western shores of Phuket
island, the resort town of Khao
Lak in Phang Nga Province, the coastal provinces of Krabi,
Satun,
Ranong
and Trang
and small offshore islands like Ko Racha Yai, the Phi
Phi islands, the Surin
Islands and the Similan
archipelago. Approximately 8,000 people were
killed (Wikipedia)
Most of
the places and resorts I had visited in Southern Thailand during 2000
and 2001 were destroyed, including the national parks, and the towns
of Phuket, Phi Phi. and Patong.The Ban Dung transmitting station was not impacted.
I
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