History of WX's short wave extender

[Jack Bennest]

from Matthew Parij <TruckMatt@wowway.com>
to bc.radio.history@gmail.com

date24 January 2009 10:26
subjectBCRadioHistory.com Web Contact




Why did CKWX’s shortwave sibling CKFX cease being on air?
Why was the CKFX transmitter and tower removed and dismantled?


Make it interesting folks - you might also want to email Matthew who is writing a paper on
shortwave radio used to extend the distance that regular radio stations broadcast to the listening audience.

[Howaboutthat]

My guess would be that no one at the station knows how to maintain it, or cares. Staff and money are short commodities these days.

[jon]

A search of this site will turn up a wealth of interesting information on CKWX's 10 watt ShortWave repeater.

In Google, type the following: site:radiowest.ca ckfx
Admittedly, you'll turn up a few false positives with the North Bay, Ontario station that now hoas the call letters. But the rest is very interesting.

For those who want the Reader's Digest version, as I remember it: the short wave transmitter "broke" in the 1990s, Rogers wouldn't authorize the money to repair it, a bunch of shortwave enthusiasts offered to pay to fix it, and the long term energy costs (yeah, like 10 watts would cost much), Rogers wouldn't have any of it, and when license renewal time came up, Rogers asked the CRTC to delete it, CRTC agreed in June 2007.

[skyvalleyradio]

jon - that's pretty much how I remember the story of CKFX's demise. Some of us hams and short-wave listeners would have gladly donated a transmitter and antenna if necessary - all Rogers had to do was maintain the license. A high powered amateur radio HF transceiver could easily "loaf" at 10 watts continuously without the transmitting circuitry overheating. And...you're right the electric power to maintain such an operation would be minimal.