Many because of SWLing Publish contributor, Michael (BD4AAQ) who shares the next visitor submit:
The seventeenth of Could is the World Telecommunication Day. It’s also the open day of Shanghai Coast Radio Station. On today, a gaggle of novice radio operators have been invited to go to the transmission facility, an enormous antenna farm, of the radio station, positioned on Chongming Island of Shanghai, the third largest island in China.
Google Satellite tv for pc Photograph
The transmission web site of Shanghai Coast Radio Station is as proven beneath within the map of Chongming Island. Different websites of the station embody a central management/obtain station in Zhangjiang, a obtain station on Hengsha Island and a few VHF base stations in quite a lot of different areas. All these areas in Shanghai, linked by way of cable and microwave connection, kind Shanghai Coast Radio Station, additionally identified by its callsign as XSG.
(Google map of transmitter location for Shanghai Coast Radio Station. Observe the antenna farm on the left.)
Presentation by Station Officers
Fifteen or so native hams have been cordially invited to have a tour of the station. The radio fanatics have been greeted by station representatives, together with Mr Wan, Mr Wang, Mr Zhou and Mr Niu (BH4BFS), who additionally gave them an summary of the coast radio station’s historical past and growth.
Antenna Farm
Mr Wang then confirmed the guests across the antenna farm. Many people, myself included, noticed and have been deeply impressed with these large antennas for the primary time! Certainly, {many professional} radio services and operators of comparable coast radio stations work quietly across the globe and across the clock to supply for misery, navigational, enterprise and private communications wants of ships!
[Click on images to enlarge.]
The antennas cowl a variety of frequencies, from MF, HF, to VHF and UHF. A lot of them are, nevertheless, shortwave (HF) antennas.
Transmitter Room
(I positioned a Tecsun PL-330 radio close to the transmitter at 12380.1 kHz (climate fax). The sign energy, in dbu, is 96. Given the margin of error of the receiver’s show, that’s in all probability as excessive because it might go.)
Shanghai Coast Radio Station (XSG) operates on a variety of frequencies. Its HF frequencies embody 4207.5, 4209.5, 4215.5, 4369, 6312, 6326, 6501, 8414.5, 8425.5, 8770, 8806, 12577, 12637.5, 13176, 13188, 16804.5, 16898.5 and 17407 kHz. Of specific word is that they’ve stored a CW frequency of 8665 kHz for normal broadcast of knowledge on a 24 hour foundation.
The station’s VHF cellphone service covers 25 nautical miles of the coast. Its MF NAVTEX covers 250 nautical miles of the coast. And its HF cellphone and climate fax and HF NAVTEX lengthen to 1,000 nautical miles.
Historical past and Present Standing
Based in 1905, Shanghai Coast Radio Station has been round 119 years. The XSG callsign has since remained in use.
China has in place DSC watch and NAVTEX broadcast in coast stations (together with XSG) in accordance with GMDSS necessities. Amongst providers supplied by XSG are Radio Telephony (RT), Slim Band Direct Printing (NBDP), “Voice of the East China Sea Coast” (voice broadcast on 161.600 MHz and 8806 kHz) and marine radio climate fax. The station is for sure one of many largest coast radio stations within the Asia Pacific area and performs an important function within the area’s marine security and communications.
QSL Playing cards
Shanghai Coast Radio Station points QSL playing cards in Chinese language and English, historically in paper kind and these days electronically.
(That is an digital QSL card issued to a Shanghai listener, who acquired their sign over the radio. Examples of QSL playing cards in English could be discovered on-line.)
Present Room
[Click on images to enlarge.]
Ham Station
Mr Niu of Shanghai Coast Radio Station, one of many tour’s organisers, is a ham himself with callsign BH4BFS. In keeping with him, there are intentions to start out a ham radio station throughout the institution, probably incorporating the letters XSG. Nevertheless, there’s a lot work to be performed to make it occur. An novice radio station with overlapping callsigns with knowledgeable one can be actually charming.
