Radio Öömrang: February 21, 2021
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Live, off-air, one-hour-long recording of Radio Öömrang on 21 February 2021 beginning at 16:00 UTC on a frequency of 15215 kHz from a transmitter at Issoudun, France, operating at 500 kW and beamed to North America. Radio Öömrang broadcasts once a year on the occasion of the Biakendai to the descendants of immigrants from the island of Amrum. Öömrang is a North Frisian dialect and is still spoken on Amrum. Biakendai is an annual celebration where a great bonfire is lit to dispel winter, although reportedly it was not held in 2021 due to the pandemic.The broadcast consisted of talks and interviews in Frisian, German, and English and included new and repeat material from previous years' broadcasts. It began with an introduction in German and then in English:
"Hello. We are broadcasting. This is Radio Öömrang, the Frisian voice coming from Amrum, the island in north Germany. The frequenz is 15.215 shortwave broadcasted with 500 kW. It could be heard on the 21st of February in North America and east coast. And now you can hear us. This is the tenth issue of Radio Öömrang and we are happy to send this anniversary. The initiator of this broadcasting is Mr. Arjan Koelzow, Tanenwai 24, in 25946 Nebel on the island Amrum. My name is Gernot Schrader, the leader of the free assistance school Toosbüy-Schule in Flensburg at the Danish borderline with Germany."
Although the introduction mentions it is the tenth anniversary issue, that actually occurred in 2015 and the English introduction has been reused each subsequent year.
Reception was excellent.
The broadcast was received outdoors on a Belka-DSP receiver in semi-synchronous mode with 50 Hz to 3 kHz RF filtering and a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna strung to a nearby tree in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada.
A recording of the 2016 broadcast can be found here: https://shortwavearchive.com/archive/radio-mrang-february-21-2016
