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What to listen to · Medium and long wave
Radio Rossii on 549 kHz: test transmissions from Bolshakovo, Kaliningrad
Irregular daytime tests of Radio Rossii from the Bolshakovo transmitting centre in the Kaliningrad region, heard on weekdays on 549, 1143 and 1215 kHz. What is known, and what is not, about this on-and-off signal.
What you hear
The same Radio Rossii programme as on 999 kHz, news and talk in Russian, but from a different place and with no promise of being there. The catalogue records test transmissions from Bolshakovo in the Kaliningrad region, observed on weekdays between about 06:00 and 14:00 UTC, on 549 kHz and at times on 1143 and 1215 kHz as well. They come and go. For the programme itself and the station behind it, see the main article.
Who transmits and why
Bolshakovo was a large Soviet-era site that once relayed Radio Moscow and later the Voice of Russia to Europe. Why it is running again, at what power and whether a regular service will follow is not public: these are tests, logged by listeners, nothing more.
When and where to listen
Medium wave carries far only after dark, and these tests are a daytime affair, so the ground wave is what you get: Kaliningrad, Lithuania, northern Poland and Latvia hear 549 kHz in the morning, the rest of Europe does not. In winter the last hour, up to 14:00 UTC, edges into dusk in the Baltic region and the signal may reach Sweden or Germany. Receivers in Lithuania and Poland are the ones to try. If 549 is silent, check 1143 and 1215.
In ShackDeck
Station catalogue → Medium and long wave → Radio Rossii 549 kHz (Kaliningrad). ShackDeck tunes a public receiver that hears 549 kHz and sets AM; no receiver, antenna or account of your own is needed. Expect silence more often than a signal.