Q: What would be the appropriate time to broadcast a program from a shortwave station in the United States to reach the Middle East / Mediterranean / Europe / Africa?

A: To broadcast to the Middle East / Mediterranean / Europe / Africa from a shortwave station located in the United States, a broadcast should be aired from approximately 12 to 6 PM Eastern Time. Shortwave broadcasts aired from 12 to 6 PM Eastern Time will be received in the Middle East / Mediterranean / Europe / Africa during prime time hours (their early evening to their midnight.) Broadcasts aired prior to 12 PM Eastern Time are ineffective: the vast majority of the listening audience is busy with the chores of life, just like here in America. Broadcasts aired after 6 PM Eastern Time are also ineffective: the vast majority of the target audience is asleep. For a broadcast to be effective, it must be timed so that it will be received in the target area during the intended audience's prime time nighttime hours.

Q: What would be the appropriate time to broadcast a program from a shortwave station in the United States to reach North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean Islands?

A: To broadcast to North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean Islands from a shortwave station located in the United States, a broadcast should be aired from approximately 7 PM to 2 AM Eastern Time. This is when the maximum number of listeners are home from work and other daily tasks and available as an audience (their prime time nighttime.) Daytime broadcasting to North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean Islands results in marginal results at best: the target audience is mostly at work or preoccupied with other chores of life.

Q: What would be the appropriate time to broadcast a program from a shortwave station in the United States to reach Southeast Asia?

A: To broadcast to Southeast Asia from a shortwave station located in the United States, a broadcast should be aired from approximately 4 AM to 9 AM Eastern Time. This is when the maximum number of listeners are home from work and other daily tasks and available as an audience (their prime time nighttime.) As an aside, it is our understanding that Radio Station WWRB and WYFR, located in Okeechobee, Florida, are the only radio stations located in the continental United States that have main lobe coverage to Southeast Asia. To reach Southeast Asia, we utilize our 340º rhombic antenna.

Q: What would be the appropriate time to broadcast a program from a shortwave station in the United States to reach Australia / New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands?

A: To broadcast to Australia / New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands from a shortwave station located in the United States, a broadcast should be aired from approximately 4 AM to 9 AM Eastern Time. This is when the maximum number of listeners are home from work and other daily tasks and available as an audience (their prime time nighttime.) As an aside, it is our understanding that Radio Station WWRB is the only radio station located in the continental United States that has nighttime path main lobe coverage to Australia / New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands, utilizing our 270º rhombic antenna. Regarding nighttime path main lobe coverage, if you would like to learn more, call us at (931) 728-6087, and one of our frequency coordinators will explain this term in further detail.

Q: To be heard in North America, what antenna(s) would you recommend?

A: We would recommend our 340° antenna or our 045° antenna to be heard well in North America and Canada. Our 270° or our 360° antenna are also good choices to reach North America and Canada.

Q: To be heard in Europe, what antenna(s) would you recommend?

A: We would recommend our 045° antenna to be heard well in Europe.

Q: To be heard in the Middle East and Africa, what antenna(s) would you recommend?

A: We would recommend our 045° antenna or 090° antenna to be heard well in the Middle East and Africa.

Q: To be heard in South and Central America and the Caribbean, what antenna(s) would you recommend?

A: We would recommend our 150° antenna to be heard well in South and Central America and the Caribbean.

Q: To be heard in Australia and New Zealand, what antenna(s) would you recommend?

A: We would recommend our 270° antenna to be heard well in Australia and New Zealand.

Q: To be heard in Southeast Asia, what antenna(s) would you recommend?

A: We would recommend our 340° antenna or our 360° antenna to be heard well in Southeast Asia.

Q: It sounds like your antennas target specific areas of the world. How do you know they target those places accurately?

A: It is not possible to verify proper shortwave antenna functioning on the ground due to "groundwave," a weak signal emitted by radio antennas that travels along the ground for very short distances. The powerful main lobe long range signal of a shortwave station can only be measured at altitude by aircraft. As a subsidiary of Airline Transport Communications Incorporated, Radio Station WWRB has access to their fleet of radio survey aircraft. Every few months, we fly survey aircraft in varying diameter circles at altitudes from 1000 to 10000 feet around the radio station. During these flights, the survey aircraft utilize their radios to measure the main lobe signal strength and use their GPS systems to create a detailed plot of where the main lobe signals are beamed from the antennas. This allows us to get a very clear picture of how our antennas perform. It is very important that we do this as shortwave radio antennas are very sensitive to obstructions, positioning, and damage. For example, during the construction of Radio Station WWRB, computer models were used to design our antennas. Then, after construction was completed, a survey aircraft revealed that all six of our antennas were misaligned up to 40° from their expected directions. The computer models only predicted how perfect theoretical antennas would perform, and could not take into account the imperfections of the real world. While the antenna misalignments have long been corrected, the causes of the innacuracies, stray tower guy wires, small imperfections in the antennas, and slight variances in antenna parts, highlight just how sensitive shortwave antennas are. If you are planning on hosting a shortwave broadcast, we advise you to request prospective stations to send you written assurances that they use survey aircraft to verify their antenna directions.

Q: I was reviewing another shortwave radio station's literature which states that they send their personnel to other countries to compare their signal strength against other shortwave stations. What is the validity of this information?

A: If the observations of a shortwave radio station's signals compared to other shortwave stations (competitors) were obtained by an employee of the station or by individuals who have a vested financial interest in the radio station, such observations need to be taken with a grain of salt, as the information will likely be biased and unscientific. For such a comparison to have validity, signal observations of the stations to be compared must be made by an independent professional radio broadcasting engineering firm. An independent professional radio broadcasting engineering firm utilizes licensed registered professional engineers who are well-known and recognized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and have their findings peer-reviewed for accuracy by other independent engineering firms. As the independent engineering firms do not have a vested financial interest in the stations being monitored and compared, the sampled information will be without bias, taking into FULL consideration the times of station operations, direction of main lobe signal, power levels, target areas, and types of antennas used (apples to apples, oranges to oranges.)

Q: Do you travel to other nations to check your signals?

A: Our involvement in the aviation communications industry allows us to ask airline pilots and private corporate pilots flying world wide to check our signals and provide WWRB with accurate signal reports from airports all over the world. Airline pilots and corporate pilots are very qualified observers of WWRB's radio signals as they use HF/shortwave radio every day for air traffic communications and company communications with their aircraft dispatchers and maintenance bases located all over the world. These signal reports are used internally to provide us with information of our coverage strength throughout the year, rather than a once a year visit to a foreign nation. Furthermore, Airline Transport Communications Incorporated, the parent company of Radio Station WWRB, maintains a fleet of aircraft equipped for radio survey. Radio Station WWRB uses these aircraft to fine-tune our antennas and transmitters for best possible performance. We do not use this information to make comparisons of other shortwave stations or to induce potential clients to purchase airtime from Radio Station WWRB: in all fairness to the other shortwave stations, during the observations of other stations signals, we do not know what factors might be impairing their signal such as antenna problems, local weather, transmitter problems, and utility outages.