Shortwave Relay Station

Shortwave Relay Station

Shortwave relay stations are transmitter sites used by international broadcasters to extend their coverage to areas that cannot be reached easily from their home state, for example the BBC operates an extensive net of relay stations.

These days the programs are fed to the relay sites by satellite, cable/optical fiber or the Internet. Frequencies, transmitter power and antennas depend on the desired coverage. Some regional relays even operate in the medium wave or FM bands.

Relay stations are also important to reach listeners in countries that practice Radio jamming. Depending on the effect of the Shortwave dead zone the target countries can jam the programs only locally, e.g. for bigger cities. For this purpose Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with studios in Munich/Germany operated a relay station in Portugal, in the extreme west of Europe, to reach the then communist Eastern Europe.