Radio Eli on 1035 kHz: Christian radio in Russian from Tartu, round the clock

What you hear

Radio Eli is a Christian broadcaster, and its programmes are what the name suggests: Bible readings and teaching, sermons, testimonies, children's programmes, hymns and modern worship music, with news and talk about life in the churches of the former Soviet Union. The catalogue lists three languages, Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, and the station is on the air around the clock, so whenever you tune in there is something on. On weekdays from 19:15 to 20:20 UTC the transmitter carries programmes of Trans World Radio at double power, and the change in strength at 19:15 is audible from a distance.

Everything is in medium-wave AM, usually with a clean, well-modulated sound; religious broadcasters tend to look after their audio.

Who transmits and why

The transmitter is at Pajukurmu, a few kilometres outside Tartu in south-eastern Estonia, and the catalogue gives 100 kW normally and 200 kW for the TWR hour. The site is Estonian, the audience is not: Tartu is close to the Russian border, and 1035 kHz is aimed at the Russian-speaking population of Estonia, at Pskov and north-western Russia, at Belarus and, beyond that, at Ukraine. Religious radio in Russian has used Baltic transmitters since the 1990s, when the mission societies found that medium wave from Estonia reached the places they wanted and that nobody there could switch it off.

Radio Eli is a mission organisation funded by its supporters; the catalogue does not say more about its ownership, and the TWR relay suggests the two share facilities rather than programming.

When and where to listen

Medium wave carries far only after dark, and 1035 kHz is no exception. By day the ground wave of 100 kW covers Estonia, Latvia and the Pskov region; after sunset the signal reaches Finland, Sweden, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania and north-western Russia, and on winter nights Germany, Denmark and beyond. The weekday TWR hour at 19:15 UTC falls in darkness from September to April and is the best time to try from a distance, both for the extra power and the timing.

Receivers in Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Sweden hear the station strongly at any hour of darkness. 1035 kHz is used elsewhere in Europe as well, and from Britain or Italy a different station may be on top. The program tunes AM; a narrower filter helps on the fringe, and the sudden rise in level at 19:15 UTC on a weekday is a handy way to confirm you have Estonia.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Medium and long wave → Radio Eli 1035 kHz (Estonia). ShackDeck finds a public receiver that hears 1035 kHz, tunes it and sets AM. No receiver, antenna or account of your own is needed; a receiver in Finland or the Baltic states gives the station day and night, one further away after sunset.