[A-DX] Andorra

["Hans-Friedrich Dumrese" <hf.dumrese@xxxxxx>]

So, nachdem wir OEY21/52 zutiefst geklärt haben, wenden wir uns einem 
neuen Fall zu:

Ich zitiere Wolfgang Büscchel's hervorragende BCDX 680 vom 12.08.04:       

...
ANDORRA   Adventist World Radio Wavescan program #501 33/1 8/8/2004 Main
Script for Wavescan, Edition number 501 for airing on Sunday 8/8/2004.
Here's Ariel McLeggon.

The European country of Andorra lies hidden, high up in the Pyrenees
mountains between France and Spain. This tiny country of less than 125
square kilometres is one of the smallest in the world, with a population 
of less than 70,000. 90% of their national economy comes from tourism.

The official lang in Andorra is Catalan; there are two postal systems,
French and Spanish; and two school systems, again French and Spanish. On
the radio scene in earlier years, there were also two radio stations,
French and Spanish, though the control of each was actually centered in
Andorra itself.

Construction work on the first radio station in Andorra began in mid 1937
at two different locations, a four storey studio and office building in 
the small city, La Vella, and a tx building on the edge of town. 
Initially, two txs were installed at the studio building and these 
radiated 60 kW on mediumwave and 25 kW on SW, as they were rated in those 
days.

The new Radio Andorra was established as a commercial venture and the 
first broadcast was aired on August 7, 1939. However, due to some problem,
apparently technical, the station was off the air for some months and
broadcasting was not resumed until February in the following year.

The official history of Radio Andorra states that they were on the air 
much of the time during the war and the first postwar report states that 
they were heard in Australia on 5995 kHz. At this stage, they endeavoured 
to obtain adequate commercial advertising through the franchise of 
advertising agencies in different countries, but one of the major problems 
was difficult coverage in target areas due to the mountainous terrain in
Andorra itself.

In 1959 a new SW tx at 1 kW was installed and this was heard at times in
New Zealand. The famous 3.5 kW tx was inaugurated in 1975 and this was
heard throughout Europe and in North America and the South Pacific.

It was in 1980 that Adventist World Radio procured two Collins txs at 10 
kW from Radio Free Europe in Germany and had them installed in the ornate 
tx building in Andorra. During the test phase, AWR was on the air from 
Radio Andorra with two txs in parallel, 3.5 kW on 6215 kHz and 10 kW on 
either 9370 or 15030 kHz. World Music Radio from Amsterdam and 
Scandinavian Radio were also on the air from Radio Andorra at this stage.

There was also another SW station located in Andorra and this went on the
air with a 1 kW tx as Andorradio in 1960. A new identification as Radio La
Vella was introduced during the following year, and five years later again
it became the more familiar Radio Sud. They inaugurated a 25 kW SW tx in
1967.

Changing political circumstances and international relations with their 
two big neighbours brought about the final closure of both stations, the
Spanish Radio Andorra and the French Radio Sud, shortl;y after 1900 UTC on
Friday April 2, 1982. Thus, after more than 40 years of on air activity, 
SW broadcasting from Andorra ultimately came to an abrupt end.

These days the only form of radio broadcasting in Andorra is on FM and
there are now nearly 20 stations on the air. These are locally owned
stations with locally produced programming, as well as downlink relay
stations with programming from France and Spain. However, it is still
possible to obtain a genuine QSL card from Andorra, that is, if you are
ever in a nearby area where you can pick up one of their main FM stations.

Over the years, Andorra has been on the air mediumwave and SW from two
different stations at two different locations, with a power output on
mediumwave up to 900 kW, and on SW with six different txs at 1 kW, 3.5 kW,
10 kW and 25 kW. Relay sces have been conducted by Radio Andorra on behalf
of World Music Radio, Scandinavian Radio, and Adventist World Radio.

All five organizations have issued QSL cards and we are holding ten
different cards issued by Radio Andorra, Sud Radio, and Adventist World
Radio. The best known card from Radio Andorra is an oversized card
featuring two young people in national costume, with the mountains and
antenna towers in the background. The card from Sud Radio is a text card
with their logo in red.

Some years ago, Heinz Haring in Austria visited Andorra and he had his
photo taken in front of the Radio Andorra sign, very similar to the QSL
card that was issued by Adventist World Radio.

Victor: Thanks Ariel, and that report brings back memories of "Music of
Faith" the daily programme that I used to host on Radio Andorra back in 
the early 80's. I've also got memories, along with Ray Allen, of driving 
up the pass into Andorra in an old mini - and having to stop several times 
to fill the radiator up from the stream running along beside the road. My 
poor old "student" car wasn't used to such mountain extremes! (AWR 
Wavescan Aug 8 via John Norfolk-USA, DXLD)
...

Also ich lese daraus:

			Radio Andorra					Radio Sud
			(spanisch)					(französisch)
1939/1940	Start in La Vella
			60kW MW, 25kW KW
nach WW2		5995kHz
1959			1kW KW
1960										Andorradio, R La Vella
										(Standort also auch in La
										Vella, aber getrennt von
										Radio Andorra)
										1kW KW
1967										25kW KW 
1975			3,5kW KW
1980			AWR 2x10kW KW auf
              9370, 15030kHz
			nutzt auch den 3,5kW tx
			auf 6215kW,
			auch WMR und R Scandinavia
1982			Sendeschluss auf MW und KW		Sendeschluss auf MW und KW              
	
Meine QSLs:

01/71		Sud Radio, wahrscheinlich MW, Postkarte Sendergebäude mit 1 Mast
07/72		Sud Radio, 818kHz, Postkarte Sendergebäude mit 2 Masten
09/76		WMR, 6230kHz, 25kW ERP
07/79		R Scandinavia, 6215kHz, via R Andorra
09/79		AWR, 6215 kHz
07/80		AWR, 15030 und 9370kHz
08/80		R Andorra, 15030kHz, die angesprochene schöne Karte mit dem Paar

Was mir auffiel:

1. Im Text wird von 6 Kurzwellensendern gesprochen, ich komme auf 7.
2. Lt. Text sendete WMR ab 1980 über SudRadio, meine QSL ist aber von 1976
   und nennt 25kW Sendeleistung. Das legt nahe, dass die schon vorher über
   den KW-Sender von SudRadio gesendet haben.
3. Der Zeitpunkt "1980" für den Start der AWR-Sendungen kann nicht richtig
   sein (s. meine QSL von 1979). 
4. Auch die Scandinavia-QSL legt dies nahe.
5. Dem Text nach war 6215 der Sender von R Andorra und 15030 und 9370 die
   Sender von AWR. AWR nutzte alle drei Sender. Durfte R Andorra dafür im
   Gegenzug den AWR-Sender auf 15030 benutzen.

Wer weiß etwas über Kurzwellensendungen aus Andorra vor 1976?

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