Short Waves sure go a L-O-N-G Way OR What to do on an day off in Homer, Alaska

So, as you might remember if you are a follower of our blog - During our Sojourns we get Friday and Saturday '"off."  Here in Homer we had the opportunity to go to a radio station that is in Anchor Point.  This isn't your local AM or FM radio station however, this is a SHORTWAVE radio station.  Most AM radio stations have somewhere between 250 and 50,000 Watts of effective radiated power.  The ones in most towns have less, the big "clear channel" stations are the one's with the 50,000 Watts of Effective Radiated Power.  This Short Wave Radio Station has 12 MILLION watts of Effective Radiated power.  It takes 100,000 Watts and gives it a 22dB gain (every 3 dB is virtually double the power  every 10 dB is 10 times the power. So 22 dB gain is 102 times 100,000 Watts).  They then port that signal over a VERY narrow area.  MOST antennas on radio stations are "omnidirectional" - that means the signal goes out in all 360 degrees from the antenna.  Therefore, the power in any 1% of that "circle" into which the radio signal is being blasted is 1/360 of the total power at the source.  For THIS station though the antenna only shoots it out in 15 degrees of the 360 degrees of the circle.  So, A LOT more power over a LOT smaller area means the signal can go a LOT farther.  It steps through 5 different 15 degree "swaths" in a 10 hour period of time changing the language to the primary area it is aiming the signal at as it goes.   PLUS, shortwaves go in a straight line.  Therefore they go straight from the antenna until they bounce off of the ionosphere; then the bounce off of that toward the ground and then bounce back up to the ionosphere again ... and again ... and again until the signal power is so weak it can't make it up to the ionosphere again.  This is called "skipping" in ShortWave Lingo.  This radio station and its sister radio station in Madagascar reach (easily) about 5000 miles from there transmitters.  They are allowed to use such high power because they are classified as "international broadcast radio stations."  The transmitter at Anchor Point is less than 1 mile from the ocean and transmits directly toward the water - over virtually NO land.  They also only transmit at NIGHT. Therefore, no one is in danger from the high power of their transmissions.

The station here transmits towards China and Russia - in Russian, Mandarin and English.  The station in Madagascar transmits toward Russia, India and China in Russian, Mandarin, English and Arabic.  Due to the "skipping" nature of Shortwave radio however the transmissions can be heard by about 95% of the world's population.  Therefore they plan to add English for Africa and Portuguese to Madagascar and Korean to the Alaskan station.

What do they transmit into these countries in their own languages - the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Below are some pictures of the tour we were given by Dave Dvorak.  He is an elder of the church in Homer and a repair technician for the radio station - KNLS in Anchor Point.

To know MORE about World Christian Broadcasting.  Click HERE to go to their website.
To see the Wikipedia article on World Christian Broadcasting - Click HERE.
To read more about ShortWave Radio - Click HERE

Above:  Dave with an old Klystron Tube.  This "tube" is how you amplify 

the initial signal up to the 100,000 W signal that you feed into your 22 dB amplifiers 

that are in the 2 pictures below:

Out of these two high voltage amplifier systems you get a shortwave signal 

with 1.2 MegaWatts of Effective Radiated Power.  That signal is then 

transmitted out through the antenna below:

In the picture above you can see the "netting" of cabling that ARE the actual shortwave antenna.  This isn't your granddaddy's Ham Radio antenna though.  Those two towers that the antenna is strung between are each 385 FEET TALL.  That's taller than a football  field is long.  There are now 2 of these antenna's side by side (the 2nd was installed late last year).

Below: Dave Dvorak sitting at the computer where the days programming is uploaded.  Dave is one of the site technicians and also an elder at the congregation in Homer where our sojourn is at:

Below: 3 pictures where Dave is demonstrating the coverage of the signal.  

It goes at LEAST 5000 miles (or more with good ionospheric bounce).

Above: With the pin stuck in the location of the Alaska transmitter the "to-scale transmission arc" shows that the 5000 mile line (just above Dave's thumb) covers the whole nation of China (which is in yellow on the globe).

Above: Dave is showing that the transmission covers the complete island of Japan and down to the regions of Java, Borneo and the Philippines.

Above: This year they started transmitting from a new tower in Madagascar.  Basically this site will be used for transmitting into India, the Middle East, Africa and Brazil (as well as Russia and China).  In this picture Dave is demonstrating that the 5000 miles the signal can easily reach Eastern Brazil.

Above: Dave with Ron and Lineta Grimes - two of the sojourners with us at the sojourn. 

(If you are an aficionado of JITrekking.com you recognize them from our 

Saguenay, Quebec sojourn 2 years ago.)

Below: Another sojourner, Richard Swift, with us on the sojourn.  They split the 

year between Phoenix, AZ in the winter and Sterling, Alaska in the summer.

Below: 2 pictures showing the Transmitter control banks.  It's kinda like the "mixing bowls" when making a cake.  All the ingredients meet here and this is where the selection of what "port" it's going to be sent to is made.  The carrier frequency is amplitude modulated and the NEXT STEP is were it gets sent to the 22dB amplifier to get transmitted out toward the ionosphere.