Time station RTZ, 50 kHz: alive and well!
For some reason I always had the impression RTZ, Irkutsk, Russia was not on the air (unlike its powerhouse brother RBU, 66.666 kHz near Moscow which I have actually heard here in New Zealand at sunrise during certain times of the year). I had certainly never heard RTZ in all my VLF/LF listing using EU/Asia Kiwis.
Imagine my surprise when I found RTZ booming in during the day using the Kiwi in Irkutsk. That Kiwi is not on my list of ones known to have good VLF/LF reception. But for some reason I happened to check it while looking for Beta system transmissions. RTZ is so close to this Kiwi it manages to get through whatever antenna attenuation is present. The Irkutsk Kiwi doesn't hear anything else on VLF/LF. Only the two NDBs at the bottom of the AM BCB.
I subsequently found a weak RTZ on two Kiwis in China to the south, so this was not some kind of mistake. The Wikipedia entry says "RTZ covers the area in Siberia between 80 and 120 degrees east". So perhaps the power/antenna system is really tailored not to cover a larger area.
Anyone know the history here? Has RTZ always been on-air or has it recently returned? The transmission format seems close if not identical to RBU.
Attachments:
https://forum.kiwisdr.com/uploads/Uploader/c2/0cba481bebe202c6a01c5d6dc55de1.png
Imagine my surprise when I found RTZ booming in during the day using the Kiwi in Irkutsk. That Kiwi is not on my list of ones known to have good VLF/LF reception. But for some reason I happened to check it while looking for Beta system transmissions. RTZ is so close to this Kiwi it manages to get through whatever antenna attenuation is present. The Irkutsk Kiwi doesn't hear anything else on VLF/LF. Only the two NDBs at the bottom of the AM BCB.
I subsequently found a weak RTZ on two Kiwis in China to the south, so this was not some kind of mistake. The Wikipedia entry says "RTZ covers the area in Siberia between 80 and 120 degrees east". So perhaps the power/antenna system is really tailored not to cover a larger area.
Anyone know the history here? Has RTZ always been on-air or has it recently returned? The transmission format seems close if not identical to RBU.
Attachments:
https://forum.kiwisdr.com/uploads/Uploader/c2/0cba481bebe202c6a01c5d6dc55de1.png
