For almost 10 years, RADIO D.A.R.C. have used the ORS transmitter in Moosbrunn near Vienna for its short wave broadcasts on Sunday mornings.
This will now stop at the end of the year as the station will be shut down. All attempts to save the site have failed, the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation wants to finally and completely give up the "short wave" business segment, which allegedly no longer fits into its business model, by December 31, 2024.
The situation is somewhat different in Woofferton, England, around 50 km westsouthwest of Birmingham. The BBC broadcasting complex that exists there is operated by the subsidiary company ENCOMPASS MEDIA and has a total of 10 transmitters and just as many antennas.
RADIO D.A.R.C. announces that effective January 01, 2025, a new broadcast contract has been agreed with the Woofferton short wave station. Contract negotiations were successful and the D.A.R.C. General Council approved the agreement and the budget on the 16th November 2024.
Radio D.A.R.C’s program will be heard from England for the first time on Sunday, January 5, 2025, on the frequency of 9670 kHz (one of the previously used frequencies of ORS). 125 kW transmission power will be used into a 4 over 4 curtain antenna facing 105 degrees towards Germany. The ERP of this configuration is almost 4 million watts.
The familiar transmission on 6070 kHz in the 49m band will continue to be present as the Radio D.A.R.C.program will be transmitted again with 10 kW transmission power from "Channel292" near Ingolstadt in Bavaria (Channel-292 is owned and operated by Ham radio operator Rainer Ebling, DB8QC). The continuation of the national society’s radio program on shortwave is thus secured for the time being.
Radio D.A.R.C. thank the employees of ORS GmbH & CO KG, in particular Ernst Vranka OE3EVA, for the many years of very benevolent and active support. We wish them all the best for their impending retirement.
