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"Wavescan" is a weekly program for long distance radio hobbyists produced by Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, Coordinator of International Relations for Adventist World Radio. AWR carries the program over many of its stations (including shortwave). Adrian Peterson is a highly regarded DXer and radio historian, and often includes features on radio history in his program. We are reproducing those features below, with Dr. Peterson's permission and assistance.


Wavescan N654, September 5, 2021

The Radio Scene on Easter Island - 3

The first radio equipment on Easter Island in the isolated South Pacific was operated by the armed forces of Chile; navy, air force and army. In fact, their navy, Armada de Chile, took over the total administration of the island in 1953.

The first radio broadcasting station on Easter Island, Radio Manukena, was an informal volunteer endeavor on the part of their air force. This station began operation on mediumwave 690 kHz in 1967 with a listed 250 watts, though in actual reality, the power output was indeed considerably less. Other listed mediumwave frequencies have been 820 kHz and 580 kHz.

Early in this new century, Radio Manukena added an FM outlet on 88.9 MHz, though this is now the only operational outlet. They closed their mediumwave operation in 2006 due to the fact that everyone was listening on FM, none were listening on mediumwave, and the cost of electricity for mediumwave transmission on Easter Island is very high.

There are no known DX reports of the logging of Easter Island on mediumwave beyond the island itself. However, during the hours of darkness, powerful mediumwave stations in other countries around the Pacific Rim are readily heard on Easter Island, and one of the most reliable signals is from radio station KFBK with 50 kW on 1530 kHz in Sacramento, California, USA.

Over the years, half a dozen other local FM stations have been on the air on Easter Island, though current reports would suggest that the only active station at present is the original Radio Manukena in its current FM form. The station is still a volunteer endeavor, with the tiny studio and the transmitter installed in the building operated by the local government authorities.

Amateur radio came to Easter Island in the 1950s on the occasion of small group DXpeditions from other countries. Over the years, more than a dozen such DXpeditions have been staged on the island under callsigns with the prefix, either CE0 or XR0. None of the local citizens is qualified to operate an amateur radio station.

Interestingly, the first amateur radio station on Easter Island was operated by the Norwegian adventurer, Thor Heyerdahl, eight years after his famed Kon-Tiki expedition from South America to the French Islands in the Pacific in 1947. During his 1955 visit to Easter Island, Heyerdahl operated communication radio under his amateur callsign LI2B.

The Control Tower at the Mataveri Airport on Easter Island operates on shortwave and it is occasionally heard in various parts of the world, on 13200 kHz under the callsign CA17E. Their omnidirectional Airways Beacon may be heard on 280 kHz under the Morse Code callsign H2Q.

We should also mention significant visits to the island by two noted radio personnel. Daryl Gungadoo, who was serving with Adventist World Radio at the time, visited the island in 2001; and the noted international radio monitor in the United States, (the late) John Bryant, visited the island in November 2007.

For John Bryant, his visit to Easter Island was in the interests of archaeology, though he carried two portable radio receivers and other associated equipment for the purpose of conducting a personal mini monitoring DXpedition. With the use of two longwire Beverage antennas lying on the ground, he heard all inhabited continents on mediumwave, including as many as 70 stations in Australia (and New Zealand).