This one is targeted mostly toward my European readers (however, read on).
I received the following email from Olkesandr in Ukraine, it seems the Russians stole his transmitter:
Hello!
My name is Oleksandr (last name redacted). I am chief editor of Ukrainian radio station CCR 648 AM. We are looking for an used am transmitter 25 or 50 kwt. Probably Your company has one for sale?
That is interesting. I asked for a few more details and received the following:
I am originally from Crimea. But in 2014 I had to leave my native town. I have been living in Kyiv since 2014. In 2017 our team of journalists launched informational broadcasting to the occupied Crimea from Chongar (it’s 1 km from Crimea in Kherson region). First we started broadcasting on 105.FM 5 kwt. But in 2018 our signal had been jammed by russians occupants. In 2019 we started broadcasting on 648 AM (10 kwt). In 2021 we increased the power to 25 kwt. But in February 2022 our transmitter was captured by russians. Now we are looking for an 25-50 kwt AM transmitter. We are going to install it in Kherson region (in controlled by Ukraine territory). I supposed we’ll be able to cover by our signal all Kherson region, Zaporizhzhya and Crimea.
Digging around, I found two news stories about it: Apparently, the Russians removed the Transmitter. By the way, Krym (pronounced cream) is Crimea in Ukrainian and Russian.
Missing Harris DX-50 transmitter, serial number MPS104705-00001
Missing Harris DX-50 transmitter
A little bit more digging around and I found some more pictures of the transmitter site: Radio Crimean Community transmitter site
Google Maps Link: Chongar
That is an interesting setup; the FM antenna is a stack of six, looks like 1/2 wave spaced six-element yagis, vertically polarised. The AM is a slant wire that goes almost to the top of the tower.
That area is still occupied by the Russians. As it is one of the two usable land transportation routes, it is likely that it will be unusable for some time after it is deoccupied.
So, here is the ask; I know that many Medium Wave transmitters have been turned off in Europe over the last several years. Is there any in that power range that is available to be moved to Ukraine? Preferably something that is still in good working order and on or close to 648 KHz. It is a long shot, but worth asking.