CKCX was the callsign used for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
's
shortwave
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
transmitter complex near
Sackville, New Brunswick
Sackville is a town in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. It is home to Mount Allison University, a primarily undergraduate liberal arts university. Historically based on agriculture, shipbuilding, and manufacturing, the economy is now driven ...
at the
Tantramar Marshes
The Tantramar Marshes, also known as the Tintamarre National Wildlife Area, is a tidal saltmarsh around the Bay of Fundy on the Isthmus of Chignecto. The area borders between Route 940, Route 16 and Route 2 near Sackville, New Brunswick. The g ...
. The
Sackville Relay Station was operated by
Radio Canada International and broadcast its programming around the world as well as relay transmissions from several foreign shortwave broadcasters. Domestically, it transmitted broadcasts on 9.625 MHz to northern Quebec by
CBC North, the
James Bay Cree Communications Society and
Taqramiut Nipingat
Taqramiut Nipingat is a Canadian radio network, which broadcasts community radio programming in Inuktitut language, Inuktitut to 14 communities in the Nunavik region of Quebec. The service, whose name means "Voice of the People", began as an indi ...
, the Inuit communications society of the
Nunavik
Nunavik (; ; iu, ᓄᓇᕕᒃ) comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly coterminous with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homeland of the I ...
region of northern Quebec. The CKCX designation was assigned after CBC Radio's
CBA, under whose licence the Sackville complex originally operated, moved to
Moncton
Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...
in 1968. Sackville was also used by
Radio Japan
NHK World-Japan (formerly and also known simply as NHK World) is the international arm of the Japanese State media, state-controlled public broadcaster NHK. Its services are aimed at the overseas market, similar to those offered by other nationa ...
,
China Radio International,
Voice of Vietnam
The Voice of Vietnam or VOV (also Radio the Voice of Vietnam, Vietnamese: ''Đài Tiếng nói Việt Nam'') is the Vietnamese national radio broadcaster. Directly controlled by the government of Vietnam, it is tasked with propagating the pol ...
,
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
,
Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...
and
Radio Korea
KBS World Radio (Korean: KBS 월드라디오; formerly Radio Korea and Radio Korea International) is the official international broadcasting station of South Korea. Owned by the Korean Broadcasting System, the station broadcasts news and informa ...
as part of a transmitter time exchange agreement.
History
The site at Sackville was originally built in 1938 for CBC local broadcasting over radio station
CBA. In 1943, two
RCA shortwave transmitters were installed.
In 1970, all CBC operations moved to Moncton, New Brunswick — this move was necessary so as to allow new
Collins
Collins may refer to:
People Surname
Given name
* Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat
* Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration
* Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middle- ...
transmitters to be installed.
In the mid-1980s, the RCA transmitters were replaced by the three, more modern,
Harris transmitters.
Decommissioning and demolition
Radio Canada International's shortwave service was shut down in June 2012 due to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation budget cuts as a result of reduced federal subsidies. As a result the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation sought to sell the Sackville site to either another international broadcaster or a wind farm company. According to Martin Marcotte, director of CBC Transmission: "
he Sackville complexwill be fairly costly to dismantle and as a last resort we would dismantle the facility, return it to bare land as it was when we first acquired that site." The transmission site was officially closed on October 31, 2012, at the conclusion of several contracts leasing transmitter time to international broadcasters. The site, however, continued to be used until December 1, 2012, for transmission of CBC's Northern Quebec service until the installation of several low power transmitters in the target region could be completed. The CRTC granted a request by the CBC to revoke CKCX's license effective December 1, 2012. The site was subsequently dismantled. After failing to receive any bids to purchase the complex, the antennas were dismantled and transmission towers demolished in 2014.
RCI's parent, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, was the owner and operator of the Sackville transmission site, call sign CKCX. RCI's only
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
site was located on the
Tantramar Marshes
The Tantramar Marshes, also known as the Tintamarre National Wildlife Area, is a tidal saltmarsh around the Bay of Fundy on the Isthmus of Chignecto. The area borders between Route 940, Route 16 and Route 2 near Sackville, New Brunswick. The g ...
several kilometres (miles) east of the town of
Sackville,
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
. RCI leased or bartered its spare transmission capacity with other international broadcasters. Sackville was the only high power
shortwave
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
relay station in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and also transmitted
CBC North broadcasts to northern Quebec.
Technology
The Sackville facility was an impressive mixture of diverse technologies. The whole facility was controlled by computer automation which was centralized in the main control room. Frequencies, antennas, and input feeds are switched all according to internationally agreed upon schedules which were renegotiated twice per year with other countries.
Sackville transmitter power level breakdown
* There were 9 transmitters in operation in 2012.
* (3 or 4) x 100 kW
* (3 or 4) x 250 kW
* 3 x 300 kW
* The site was capable of utilizing 500 kW transmitters, but the end of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
and improved
shortwave
Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
frequency coordination made upgrading to 500 kW unnecessary.
The newest
Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) transmitters used a "pulse-step" type modulation (PSM). All Sackville ABB transmitters had 250 kW output, although there were some newer Thales transmitters that are 300 kW.
Thales
Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...
transmitters could use APDM (Adaptive PDM) the design successor to PSM (partly based on PSM modulation).
All modern Sackville SW transmitters incorporated
Dynamic Carrier Control (DCC) of some kind.
* DCC causes the carrier level to be automatically reduced when there are lower levels or no audio.
* During periods of silence (no audio), the carrier power was reduced by 50%, so the 250 kW transmitter put out a carrier of 125 kW during audio pauses. This saved otherwise wasted empty carrier power.
Site layout
Sackville had a site layout similar to the
Wertachtal Shortwave Relay Station, with a few substantial differences.
* Wertachtal has 3 arms of
HRS type antennas that are spaced at ~120 degrees; Sackville Relay Station only approximates this configuration.
* The Wertachtal configuration allows for near 360 degree coverage of the world.
* Wertachtal exclusively contains HRS type transmission antennas, whereas Sackville does not.
* Sackville site configuration information supported this comparison, with respect to HRS type antenna azimuths.
Site configuration
This site configuration data is known to be accurate for 2004-2005.
Transmitters (configuration not fully verified)
* 3 × 250 kW SW (1993–1995, ABB: SK 53 C3-2)
* 3 × 100 kW SW (1983, Harris: SW-100A) this transmitter is under démolition (3 Harris) July 2012
* 3 × (Unknown power) (Unknown models)
* A new SW transmitter has been acquired that is DRM capable.
It known that at least one SW transmitter had been outfitted to transmit
DRM
DRM may refer to:
Government, military and politics
* Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd
* Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar
* Direction du renseignement militai ...
at this time.
Antennas (Type, Bearing) (configuration not fully verified)
* HR 4/4/1.0 (60 degrees)
* HR 4/2/1.0 (105 degrees)
* HR 4/4/1.0 (163 degrees)
* HR 4/4/1.0 (176 degrees)
* HR 4/4/1.0 (189 degrees)
* HR 2/4/1.0 (227 degrees)
* HR 2/4/1.0 (240 degrees)
* HR 4/4/1.0 (240 degrees)
* HR 4/4/1.0 (272 degrees)
* HR 2/1/0.5 (277 degrees)
To better understand the ITU HR antenna notation, see the
HRS type antennas guide.
See also
CXCK/RCI - History of Canadian Broadcasting
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:CKCX-SW
KCX
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio stations
KCX
Radio stations established in 1968
Radio stations disestablished in 2012
1968 establishments in New Brunswick
2012 disestablishments in New Brunswick
KCX