CONFUSION OVER THAI TRANSMITTER SITE


CONFUSION OVER THAI TRANSMITTER SITE


I often see shortwave listeners quoting a Voice of America, a Radio Thailand or a Radio Farda broadcast as coming from the Thailand transmitter site called "Udon Thani". Strictly speaking, that location is not correct!

The confusion usually comes from online frequency lists such as short-wave.info, shortwaveschedule.com and shortwave.am. These websites all identify the powerful Thai transmitting facility as being located at Udon Thani. So listeners are simply copying what is listed from these sites.

Let's clear up this confusion.

Udon Thani is a province is located in northeast Thailand. The provincial capital is also called Udon Thani and is the major city within the province.

However, the correct location of the transmitting facility is near the village of Ban Dung. When looking at a Google map of the region, if you take the Fountain Roundabout as the geographical centre of Udon Thani city, then the transmitters are located approximately 53 km (33 mi) northeast of the city in Ban Dung. The quickest way to get there is by driving approximately 60 km, taking just over an hour from Udon Thani city. The geographical coordinates are 17.675745, 103.200176.

The site is run by the IBB (International Broadcasting Bureau), the technical arm of an independent U.S. Government agency called the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).

This IBB transmitter site hosts broadcasts for VoA, Radio Thailand’s international service, VoA’s Radio Ashna, VoA’s Deewa Radio, Radio Farda, Radio Free Europe/R. Liberty, R. Mashaal,, R. Azadi (a.k.a. R. Free Afghanistan), and the Bangkok Meteo Fax service. They all transmit from this site.

My VoA monitoring colleague, Craig Tyson in Perth, Western Australia reports that the site boasts an impressive seven 500kW transmitters into curtain array antennas. The Ban Dung site is a powerful shortwave voice across the globe.

You can check out the transmitter site from the ground and the air by clicking on the Google map HERE.

I hope this information helps you understand why I list the transmitter site for my Thailand loggings as Ban Dung and not Udon Thani.

73 and good DX to you all.

Rob Wagner VK3BVW

CLICK HERE for VK3BVW Live Stream (Clublog)



QRZ callsign lookup:


© Rob Wagner, Mount Evelyn DX Report, and contributors 2012-2022

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. If your comment isn’t visible right away, it has been received and will be published shortly.

Popular posts from this blog

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW # 21 - The Kenwood R-5000

Image
RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #21 (You can click on all photos in this article for a close-up view) KENWOOD R-5000 Performance and Innovation by ROB WAGNER VK3BVW This extended blog post first appeared as a feature article in the February 2024 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Further details on this excellent publication are available at www.thespectrummonitor.com I have always wanted to own a Kenwood R-5000 receiver. Perhaps I was dazzled by the mystique that appeared to surround this rig. Somehow, it had always been on top of my bucket list of pre-loved rigs that I wanted sitting on the desk of the radio shack.  Finally, one showed up at a local Sunday morning Hamfest, and I happened to have just enough dollars in my pocket to make a purchase. It appeared to have lived a hard life. The case looked knocked around and was pretty dirty inside and out. So, while I would have liked to have owned a unit in better condition, the price was right, and I decided to take it on as a l...
Read more

REVIEW: WELLBROOK ALA1530S+ LOOP ANTENNA

Image
PRODUCT REVIEW: WELLBROOK ALA1530S+ LOOP ANTENNA by Michael Stevenson (Guest Contributor) This is a review and my opinion of the Wellbrook ALA1530S+ P–1 Active receiving Antenna. For further information, details and specifications then please visit: www.wellbrook.uk.com Background I have been a keen shortwave listener since 1970 and have had many receivers and antenna types during this time. Currently I have two wire antennas, a PAR Electronics EF-SWL 15 meter with impedance matching transformer, made in the US; and a home made 17 meter wire with balun. I also have a dedicated multi-stake ground or earthing system to compliment my receiver and antennas. I live in suburbia Port Macquarie, New South Wales on the east coast of Australia. Even though all our electricity wiring is under ground in our housing estate, I live in an environment where there are all types of man-made noises coming from modern electronic and electrical equipment used by my neighbours The wire a...
Read more

RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #20 - The SONY ICF-5900W

Image
RETRO RECEIVER REVIEW #20 SONY ICF-5900W by CRAIG SEAGER VK2HBT This time around, I thought we might direct our attention to one of the many portable receivers of yesteryear, and it is perhaps appropriate that we choose a manufacturer that continued to produce quality equipment featuring shortwave coverage until long after. I’m sure our Japanese friends will concur with the submission that Japan is a land of short-lived, but enthusiastically embraced fads.  Whether it be karaoke, yo-yos with brains, electronics pets or Pokémon, each craze sweeps the country in such a way that captures the attention of the rest of the world and is usually associated with some pretty smart home-grown technology.   In the mid to late 1970s, shortwave listening (or “BCL”) was the flavour of the month, with teenagers (and some older folk!) compiling large QSL collections and forming SWL and DX clubs all over the country.  Nowadays, you’d be fairly hard-pressed to find any external broadcas...
Read more