Caracol Neiva

Colombia Menu Main Menu What's New Best of this Site Radio History Clandestine Radio

CARACOL NEIVA

(HJJR & HJDH)

The following item is taken from pages 224-226 of LA-DXing, 4th Edition (1987), as published by Radio Nuevo Mundo. It was written by Takayuki Inoue Nozaki and is placed here with permission.
After finishing my visit to stations in Villavicencio, a door to "llano", where the average temperature is 27C, I came back to Bogota. Being situated at 2600m, Bogota has an average temperature of 18C, so here is a very comfortable place for me, for I do not like hot places! But I had to leave here to go to the next destination. Riding a "Comotor" bus from central bus terminal in Bogota, I headed for Neiva, the Mecca of SW stations. Arrived at 0200 in the morning, and I checked in at a cheap hotel near the bus terminal. I was annoyed all night by bedbugs, hi.
Neiva is a capital of Huila Department, a middle class city with 170,000 of population. Neiva is famous for tourists as the gateway for ruins at San Augustin, located at north-eastern part of the Department. Unfortunately I had to give up visiting the ruins because I would rather like to visit SW'ers in Florencia. First of all I visited Radio Colosal (actually known as Caracol Neiva). Before starting my report, I would like to quote some reports from RNM bulletins regarding their network change.
At the beginning of January 1, 1981, Radio Colosal changed network from TODELAR to CARACOL, which was confirmed by their ID. During TODELAR affiliation, they gave following ID: "Desde el radio-centro TODELAR de Neiva, sede de los decimo-primeros juegos nacionales, les habla Radio Colosal, HJDP 1010 kHz onda larga , HJDH 4945kHz onda corta, banda de 60 metros y 300.5MHz frecuencia-modulada." After the network change, ID was "Esta es Radio colosal, HJJR l010kHz, 4945kHz onda corta, banda de 60 metros y 300.5MHz frecuencia modulada desde Neiva, Colombia. Radio Colosal, emisora de la Primera Cadena Radial Colombiana, CARACOL. CARACOL, radiodifusion de prestigio.", without any change in station name. In April 1981, at 0800-1130 GMT, the time audibie in Japan, all program monitored was produced in Bogota, and ID "Radio Colosal" was no longer heard at all. Instead, the new ID (still effective as of 1987 ) "Esta es Caracol Neiva, HJJR 1010 kHz. Emisora de la Primera Cadena Radial Colombiana, CARACOL. CARACOL, la gran compania" was introduced.
It was on August 3 that I visited Caracol Neiva. It already passed more than 4 years after the net change. I looked for the station at Calle 6a and found a sky-blue signboard painted "Radio Colosal" in white. At the office, I asked "Aqui esta la oficina de Caracol Neiva?", and was replied "Si, Senor. Adelante!"
Thus I was showed around the station with a lot of station people. It seemed that operators and announcers were not so busy here. In the studio, there were equipments like "Willkinson" console mixer, 2 "Russco" disk players, 3 "Tapecaster" cartridge tape decks Model 700-P, etc. which were connected to 2 microphones at announcing studios. Compared with equipments at stations in Bogota (Caracol Bogota or RCN-Emisoras Nueva Granada), Caracol Neiva has poorer ones, however, equipment quality in general is rather high here in Colombia (Local stations in Peru, for example, has much poorer equipments, indeed.). And that they have a recording studio for local programs. During TODELAR affiliation, they produced almost all programs except for a national news relay "El Noticiero Todelar de Colombia". So the recording studio was well used. At present, they make use of the studio for producing local ads. On the wall of recording studio, I found a poster of CARACOL, and a historical pennant issued during TODELAR affiliate. I wanted to get it, however, it was not given to me because of being the last one they had. Que lastima!

History of the station
Radio Colosal was commenced by Sr. Rafael Navarro Troncoso (actual owner) in August 1962, broadcasting 24 hours a day on HJDP l020kHz (5kW) and HJDH 4945kHz (2.5kW). 24 hour-broadcast has been continued till now, and other stations like Radio Reloj Neiva (ex-La Voz del Huila) and Colosal FM Est6reo, both owned by Sr. Rafael Navarro Troncoso, also broadcast 24 hours. Radio Colosal and La Voz del Huila left TODELAR network and belonged to CARACOL on January 1, 1981. Radio Colosal has been classified as "Emisora Afiliada" for a short period after the network change, however, soon changed to the first "Cadena Basica" station in Huila Department. This brought them the station name change to "Caracol Neiva". Actually they relay more than 85% of programs sent from Caracol Bogota. Local programs are: "Reportero Caracol del Huila" (Noticiero Local: local news at 0615-0630, 1215-1300 and 1830-1900, Monday to Friday), and a Misa relay at 1930-2010 on Sunday.

Technical Information
HJJR 1010 kHz: "Cesar Estevez & Cia." transmitter (4CX-15000AX made in 1971. Modified to operate at 17kW maximum. Usual output power is 15kW. Stand by transmitter is also "Cesar Estevez & Cia." (2.5 kW). Antenna is 1/4 wave inverted V type. (ex-HJDP)
HJDH 4945 kHz: "Cesar Estevez & Cia." transmitter (2500AX with an output power of 2.5 kW, made in 1975. Antenna is a 1/2 wave dipole type (12m high).
VHF 300.5 MHZ: "Mc.Marti" transmitter is used to send programs from studios to transmitter site.
QSL Information Poor verifier. Try to write personally to Fernando Navarro Troncoso, who is in charge of correspondence. Advised to report on local programs. QTH: Calle 6a No. 4-59, Neiva, Departamento del Huila, Colombia.

This website is maintained by Don Moore,
Association of North American Radio Clubs
DXer of the Year for 1995.
My Address Is In This Graphic

Colombia Menu	Main Menu	What's New	Best of this Site	Radio History	Clandestine Radio
CARACOL NEIVA (HJJR & HJDH) The following item is taken from pages 224-226 of LA-DXing, 4th Edition (1987), as published by Radio Nuevo Mundo. It was written by Takayuki Inoue Nozaki and is placed here with permission. After finishing my visit to stations in Villavicencio, a door to "llano", where the average temperature is 27C, I came back to Bogota. Being situated at 2600m, Bogota has an average temperature of 18C, so here is a very comfortable place for me, for I do not like hot places! But I had to leave here to go to the next destination. Riding a "Comotor" bus from central bus terminal in Bogota, I headed for Neiva, the Mecca of SW stations. Arrived at 0200 in the morning, and I checked in at a cheap hotel near the bus terminal. I was annoyed all night by bedbugs, hi. Neiva is a capital of Huila Department, a middle class city with 170,000 of population. Neiva is famous for tourists as the gateway for ruins at San Augustin, located at north-eastern part of the Department. Unfortunately I had to give up visiting the ruins because I would rather like to visit SW'ers in Florencia. First of all I visited Radio Colosal (actually known as Caracol Neiva). Before starting my report, I would like to quote some reports from RNM bulletins regarding their network change. At the beginning of January 1, 1981, Radio Colosal changed network from TODELAR to CARACOL, which was confirmed by their ID. During TODELAR affiliation, they gave following ID: "Desde el radio-centro TODELAR de Neiva, sede de los decimo-primeros juegos nacionales, les habla Radio Colosal, HJDP 1010 kHz onda larga , HJDH 4945kHz onda corta, banda de 60 metros y 300.5MHz frecuencia-modulada." After the network change, ID was "Esta es Radio colosal, HJJR l010kHz, 4945kHz onda corta, banda de 60 metros y 300.5MHz frecuencia modulada desde Neiva, Colombia. Radio Colosal, emisora de la Primera Cadena Radial Colombiana, CARACOL. CARACOL, radiodifusion de prestigio.", without any change in station name. In April 1981, at 0800-1130 GMT, the time audibie in Japan, all program monitored was produced in Bogota, and ID "Radio Colosal" was no longer heard at all. Instead, the new ID (still effective as of 1987 ) "Esta es Caracol Neiva, HJJR 1010 kHz. Emisora de la Primera Cadena Radial Colombiana, CARACOL. CARACOL, la gran compania" was introduced. It was on August 3 that I visited Caracol Neiva. It already passed more than 4 years after the net change. I looked for the station at Calle 6a and found a sky-blue signboard painted "Radio Colosal" in white. At the office, I asked "Aqui esta la oficina de Caracol Neiva?", and was replied "Si, Senor. Adelante!" Thus I was showed around the station with a lot of station people. It seemed that operators and announcers were not so busy here. In the studio, there were equipments like "Willkinson" console mixer, 2 "Russco" disk players, 3 "Tapecaster" cartridge tape decks Model 700-P, etc. which were connected to 2 microphones at announcing studios. Compared with equipments at stations in Bogota (Caracol Bogota or RCN-Emisoras Nueva Granada), Caracol Neiva has poorer ones, however, equipment quality in general is rather high here in Colombia (Local stations in Peru, for example, has much poorer equipments, indeed.). And that they have a recording studio for local programs. During TODELAR affiliation, they produced almost all programs except for a national news relay "El Noticiero Todelar de Colombia". So the recording studio was well used. At present, they make use of the studio for producing local ads. On the wall of recording studio, I found a poster of CARACOL, and a historical pennant issued during TODELAR affiliate. I wanted to get it, however, it was not given to me because of being the last one they had. Que lastima! History of the station Radio Colosal was commenced by Sr. Rafael Navarro Troncoso (actual owner) in August 1962, broadcasting 24 hours a day on HJDP l020kHz (5kW) and HJDH 4945kHz (2.5kW). 24 hour-broadcast has been continued till now, and other stations like Radio Reloj Neiva (ex-La Voz del Huila) and Colosal FM Est6reo, both owned by Sr. Rafael Navarro Troncoso, also broadcast 24 hours. Radio Colosal and La Voz del Huila left TODELAR network and belonged to CARACOL on January 1, 1981. Radio Colosal has been classified as "Emisora Afiliada" for a short period after the network change, however, soon changed to the first "Cadena Basica" station in Huila Department. This brought them the station name change to "Caracol Neiva". Actually they relay more than 85% of programs sent from Caracol Bogota. Local programs are: "Reportero Caracol del Huila" (Noticiero Local: local news at 0615-0630, 1215-1300 and 1830-1900, Monday to Friday), and a Misa relay at 1930-2010 on Sunday. Technical Information HJJR 1010 kHz: "Cesar Estevez & Cia." transmitter (4CX-15000AX made in 1971. Modified to operate at 17kW maximum. Usual output power is 15kW. Stand by transmitter is also "Cesar Estevez & Cia." (2.5 kW). Antenna is 1/4 wave inverted V type. (ex-HJDP) HJDH 4945 kHz: "Cesar Estevez & Cia." transmitter (2500AX with an output power of 2.5 kW, made in 1975. Antenna is a 1/2 wave dipole type (12m high). VHF 300.5 MHZ: "Mc.Marti" transmitter is used to send programs from studios to transmitter site. QSL Information Poor verifier. Try to write personally to Fernando Navarro Troncoso, who is in charge of correspondence. Advised to report on local programs. QTH: Calle 6a No. 4-59, Neiva, Departamento del Huila, Colombia. This website is maintained by Don Moore, Association of North American Radio Clubs DXer of the Year for 1995.