The first QSL of the 2024/25 Transatlantic season. I heard CJMR from Oakville, Ontaria, Canada with nice Indian music. Again the Shazam app was a great aid in identifying the songs. I sent my report via their web form. Mrs. Paige Dent, Director of Engineering, was so kind to confirm my reception:
I already noticed that CJMR has the same postal address as CJYE 1250 “Joy Radio”, and it was Mrs. Dent who signed my PPC last time. So I did sent a PPC to CJMR as well, and do hope that she will sign again. And do note they apparently have plans to acquire CKTB 610 AM as well!
CJMR brands itself as “The Voice of the City” and as a multicultural station they are broadcasting in 15 different languages.
And yes I do know there are perfectly good opportunities for Transatlantic DX in summer, most of all towards South America, but I like the seasonal notion for North American reception.
I am a fan of NDB listening. Not only because you get nice QSL replies, but also because the NDB List group organizes a “Coordinated Listening Event” every month. It is fun and you can compare your own reception results with those of other enthusiasts.
On the 309th listening evenent running from October 25th-27th the aim was to log up to 8 beacons from each Maidenhead square. Maidenhead is the locator system used by radio amateurs.
Conditions to the north and north west were not good. But that was more than compensated for by good conditions to Russia on the first night. In total I logged beacons from 19 Maidenhead squares and I was able to reach the max 8 for 8 of them. You can see the results below. CLE 309 results: date/time/frequency/call/distance/ITU/location
HM 26.10.2024 0300 380.0 FIL 2993 AZR Horta / Faial Island HP 25.10.2024 2030 392.0 KF 2065 ISL Keflavik IM 25.10.2024 2345 432.0 HMB 1920 ALG Hammam Bou Hadjar for Oran 25.10.2024 2015 382.0 LAR 1812 POR Arruda 26.10.2024 1900 415.0 ON 1868 ALG Oran / Es Senia 26.10.2024 1945 356.0 SGO 1435 ESP Sagunto 27.10.2024 0200 292.0 MIA 1968 MEL Melilla 27.10.2024 2315 407.0 BCR 2343 ALG Bechar 27.10.2024 2045 425.0 EVR 1805 POR Evora IN 25.10.2024 1930 410.0 C 1389 ESP La Coruna 25.10.2024 1930 401.0 COA 1381 ESP La Coruna 25.10.2024 1930 389.0 ZRZ 1242 ESP Zaragoza 25.10.2024 1730 359.0 LOR 766 FRA Lorient / Lann Bihoue 25.10.2024 1745 351.0 OSA 811 FRA Ouessant 26.10.2024 1845 417.0 CVT 1465 ESP Madrid / Cuatro Vientos 27.10.2024 2015 383.0 ALD 562 GSY Alderney 27.10.2024 2015 329.0 JW 595 JSY Jersey IO 26.10.2024 0215 347.0 NQY 709 ENG Newquay 25.10.2024 2345 361.0 CFN 933 IRL Donegal / Carrickfin 25.10.2024 1800 328.5 EGT 857 NIR Londonderry / Eglinton 25.10.2024 2245 401.0 BBA 985 SCT Benbecula 25.10.2024 2345 344.0 WCK 864 SCT Wick 25.10.2024 2345 351.0 SBH 947 SHE Sumburgh Head 25.10.2024 1715 388.5 CDF 573 WLS Cardiff 26.10.2024 2215 395.0 KW 906 ORK Kirkwall / Orkney Isl. IP 25.10.2024 1930 337.0 MY 1340 FRO Myggenaes JL 27.10.2024 0230 450.0 AOO 2907 LBY El Sharara ? (ROO) 27.10.2024 2015 470.0 WF 2618 LBY Wafa JM 26.10.2024 1830 423.0 BJA 1715 ALG Bejaia / Soummam 26.10.2024 2345 510.0 BL 1741 ALG Blida 26.10.2024 1845 424.0 GRS 1914 ALG Ghriss 27.10.2024 0130 394.0 IZA 1493 BAL Ibiza 27.10.2024 0215 384.0 ADX 1408 BAL Andraitx for Palma de Mallorca 27.10.2024 0100 412.0 SIG 1816 SCY Sigonella (CT) 27.10.2024 1915 316.0 CAL 1468 SAR Cagliari / Elmas JN 25.10.2024 1800 340.0 BLK 1197 BIH Banja Luka 25.10.2024 2015 715.0 C 778 CZE Caslav 25.10.2024 1930 436.0 SME 1078 HNG Sarmellek / Balaton 25.10.2024 2245 412.0 HUM 1320 HRV Humac 25.10.2024 2215 420.0 GO 1535 MNE Podgorica 25.10.2024 1815 463.0 CL 1034 SVN Cerklje 26.10.2024 1730 375.0 GLA 642 SUI Gland for Geneva / Cointrain 27.10.2024 2030 375.0 CV 1101 COR Calvi / Ste Catherine JO 25.10.2024 1715 360.5 MAK 159 BEL Mackel for Brussels Ntl 25.10.2024 1715 352.5 DD 172 BEL Oostende 25.10.2024 1715 355.0 ONW 105 BEL Antwerpen / Deurne 25.10.2024 1715 352.0 LAA 107 DEU Niederrhein 25.10.2024 1800 357.0 KD 474 DNK Kolding / Vamdrup 25.10.2024 1845 373.0 NW 139 HOL Maastricht / Beek 26.10.2024 1915 375.0 EKO 507 XOE Ekofisk L 26.10.2024 1745 380.0 ULA 571 XOE Ula / BP Platform JP 25.10.2024 2330 345.0 STM 1652 NOR Strommen / Mo I Rana 25.10.2024 2330 348.0 SAD 1840 NOR Leknes / Sandsund 26.10.2024 2200 368.0 OY 1243 SWE Sveg 27.10.2024 0100 414.0 STA 1036 XOE Stafjord A Platform 27.10.2024 0100 414.0 STC 1030 XOE Statfjord C 27.10.2024 0100 615.0 STB 1027 XOE Statfjord B Platform 27.10.2024 2330 328.0 DK 1547 SWE Vilhemina 27.10.2024 2245 364.0 VNA 1566 SWE Vanja KN 25.10.2024 2230 399.0 KMN 1999 BUL Burgas / Kamenar 25.10.2024 2345 297.0 PEP 1733 MKD Prilep 25.10.2024 1830 521.0 BSW 1767 ROU Bucuresti / Baneasa 25.10.2024 2100 349.0 OPE 1778 ROU Bucuresti / Otopeni 25.10.2024 2100 470.0 QL 2482 RUS Taganrog 25.10.2024 1800 405.0 JST 1574 SRB Nis / Justic 25.10.2024 1900 425.0 KE 1220 SVK Kosice 25.10.2024 2030 580.0 KC 2252 UKR Kacha KO 25.10.2024 2015 920.0 G 1295 BLR Grodno / Obukhovo 25.10.2024 2015 840.0 KR 1090 KAL Kaliningrad / Khrabovo 25.10.2024 1800 407.0 PN 1143 LTU Palanga 25.10.2024 1800 437.0 NP 1048 POL Tomaszow-Mazowiecki / Porter 25.10.2024 2100 770.0 B 2151 RUS Moscow / Sheremetyevo 25.10.2024 2015 1215.0 WT 2174 RUS Kartino 25.10.2024 2015 732.0 AO 2209 RUS Aksinyino 25.10.2024 2345 478.0 MF 2286 RUS Larionovo KP 26.10.2024 2115 329.0 WU 1578 SWE Umea 27.10.2024 2300 377.0 OL 1782 SWE Lulea / Kallax LM 27.10.2024 0345 355.0 ARB 3670 IRN Ardabil LN 25.10.2024 2130 486.0 KL 2538 RUS Krasnyy Sulin 25.10.2024 2015 876.0 WG 2783 RUS Volgograd / Gumrak 25.10.2024 2030 618.0 NK 2939 RUS Akhtubinsk 26.10.2024 0230 618.0 TB 2939 RUS Akhtubinsk 25.10.2024 2030 777.0 ST 2723 RUS Sirotinskaya LO 25.10.2024 2200 705.0 PX 3250 RUS Perm / Bolshoye Savino 25.10.2024 2230 995.0 DW 2922 RUS Nikolskoye 25.10.2024 2345 672.0 M 3131 RUS Bugulma 25.10.2024 2015 905.0 UD 2623 RUS Buturlino 25.10.2024 2015 932.0 KR 2783 RUS Krasnoarmeysk 25.10.2024 2015 965.0 BL 2890 RUS Kazan 25.10.2024 2015 960.0 RP 2505 RUS Sosnovkoye 26.10.2024 2015 963.0 KCh 3374 RUS Orenburg-2 MO 25.10.2024 2330 1130.0 YS 4425 RSE Kalachinsk MP 25.10.2024 2030 752.0 BB 3616 RSE Beryozovo
Of the many BBC Local Radio stations which you could hear on MW there are only 6 left: Norfolk, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Derby, Guernsey and Cumbria. As soon as Radio Romania Actualitati shuts down at 22:00 UTC you can hear them with a local program. Later in the night they switch to a relay of BBC Radio 5 live.
Mr. Andy Stevenson, operations engineer at the BBC Technology group was so kind to confirm my report by email. He included a link to a site which shows the antennas in Carlisle: https://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1452
I wrote “SWL” between quotes because this is also an MW contest. You can listen to MW, SW or both.
Having participated in the very enjoyable SWL contest 2024 I am going to focus on MW for this one. Let”s see if I can log 250 stations on MW.
But no matter what you would like to do, on behalf of SWL F14368 Frank I would like to invite you to participate in the SWL Contest 2025. You can find the details by clicking this link! If you think you don’t have a good listening location you can opt to use a Kiwi SDR as well. I do hope to see you in the results!
There are two NDBs for this airport: KUN on 416 kHz and KNE on 434 kHz. Mr. Najman from ANS Czech Republic was so kind to confirm my reception. He also included the photos of the beacons:
Thanks to a tip from Goran Hardenmark I was made aware of a transmission from NTNU Ålesund, Norway. During a class exercise a radio check was made on 3366, 8297 and 12353 kHz. I heard nothing on 3 MHz, some weak conversation on 8 MHz (but not sure if it was NTNU), and a clear “All ships all ships” at 09:20 UTC on 12 MHz. I have to admit that I need to train my ears again for proper USB listening: I got a bit spoilt with all the digital modes!
The Radio Check could be monitored via their Facebook group. And this also gave me the opportunity to chat with Mr AH Barmen who coordinated this course. He provided the following details:
The frequencies we used today are reserved for intership communication, 3366 KHz have been used for intership communication in Nordic waters, the two others are randomly picked from Appendix 17 – Sub Section B of the Radio Regulations. All maritime schools that provide training for maritime radio certificates are equipped with a ship radio station that can use these frequencies.
On our radio station we have a Sailor 6300 MF/HF radio, 150W and a 12 m antenna, in adition we have Sailor and Furuno NAVTEX receivers, two Sailor VHF’s, INMARSAT-C and an Iridium LT3100s.
I also received the special eQSL card for this event. Thank you Mr. Barmen!
QSL for ZSC Cape Town Radio 16804.5 kHz. Already in the 80-ies I tried this one when I received them in CW. No luck. More recently I tried again to get a QSL for their DSC transmissions. No luck. Then I got a contact email of Mr. Khan from Artur at Maresme DX, but even that took a 2nd attempt. But hey, here it is, a nice f/d eQSL showing the Table Mountain and the city of Cape Town, South Africa.
And that was not all. The QSL was accompanied with a friendly email, a comprehensive letter describing the history of Telkom maritime services in South Africa, and a 4 page e-brochure:
Yep, not the shortest title for a post, probably the longest. Last week I received a DSC transmission identifying as MMSI 002573550 with a test to MMSI 002570000 “Norwegian Public Correspondence”. MMSI 002573550 is listed as Vardo VTS (Vessel Traffic Service).
Norway Vessel Traffic Service (Kystverket) has a nice website but to be honest the structure of VTS is not immediately clear. From this link I conclude that there are 5 VTS centres of which Vardo is one. They are responsible for safe maritime traffic, which includes things like navigational and weather warnings. But they seem to be active on VHF only. Nevertheless I decided to send a report to post@kystverket.no . Within a day I received this answer:
Good afternoon. NOR VTS/Vardo VTS/Navarea 19 and The National Coordinator for Navigational Warnings is placed i Vardø in North Norway. We broadcast navigational message to the seafarers. This we do in collaboration with Norwegian Kystradio. Some types of messages they send out and some we send out but the responsibility lies in Vardø. Norwegian Kystradio is located in Bodø. We are under Norwegian Coastal Administration. Best regards VTS operator NOR VTS NORWEGIAN COASTAL ADMINISTRATION
Not really a QSL. I followed up asking if they could confirm it was their station I heard, but that email has not been answered yet.
In parallel I sent a report to Kystradio Nord in Bodø. This resulted in this answer:
So where does that leave me? Well… in the old days (40 years ago) things were easy. You had an office, your own transmitter, your own antenna. Today you have a service. The service could be “monitoring emergencies” like what Kystradio Nord does, or “ensuring safe maritime traffic” like what VTS Norway is doing. But the employees often don’t have an idea on the technical infrastructure needed to perform these tasks. That is a given, with transmitters and antennas operated and maintained by contractors – such as Telenor.
I saw a post on the internet that said that we should regard MMSI 002573550 as a convenient telephone number. If that call is made and received by the antennas in Vardo (or any other antenna) the operators know that this call has to be routed to Vardo VTS (if there is even an operator involved to route such a call). That makes perfect sense.
I assume that it doesn’t make sense for Kystradio Nord to run a test with MMSI 002573550 for Vardo VTS via one of their other MW transmitters like in Bodø. So… this is a QSL for MMSI Vardo VTS via the Kystradio Nord transmitter in Vardo. Any thoughts? Let me know in via the comments on this post.
“Amsterdam huilt”, “Amsterdam cries”. This beautiful song, exactly 60 years old, is as relevant as ever after what happened last night in Amsterdam. I feel ashamed, angry, powerless. I have no words. But I think it shouldn’t go unnoticed… hence this post.
Als vader weer bladert in zijn fotoboek Dan sta je versteld als hij weer vertelt Van de Weesperstraat en de jodenhoek
Als vader dan verhaalt hoe het leven begon Bij het ontwaken, handel en zaken Humor en gein, dat was de levensbron En had je een dag eens geen mazzel gehad Dan ‘s avonds naar de Tip Top waar je je sores vergat
Soms riep d’r nog een in het ‘t late uur ‘k Heb mooie olijven en uitjes in het zuur
Amsterdam huilt waar het eens heeft gelachen Amsterdam huilt, nog voelt het de pijn Amsterdam huilt waar het eens heeft gelachen Amsterdam huilt, want weg is de gein
Als vader verhaalt hoe de sabbath begon Dan sta je versteld als hij weer vertelt Hoe de voorzanger ‘Addesjem eilje nowa’ daar zong
Op het Channekefeest gingen de kaarsjes weer aan Dan werd er gewenst, door Godje gebenscht En dat het hun allen weer goed maar zal gaan
Voor er werd geplunderd en uitgeroeid Hebben daar jiddische Jeledjes gestoeid Men noemde hen ras, oh God ,oh God Waarom mocht het niet zijn zoals het er was
Amsterdam huilt waar het eens heeft gelachen Amsterdam huilt, nog voelt het de pijn Amsterdam huilt waar het eens heeft gelachen Amsterdam huilt, want weg is de gein
Op vrijdagavond koegel en peren Wie dat niet nascht, die kan ‘t ook niet waarderen Het boek gaat dicht en met een traan in zijn ogen
Fluistert hij: Mazzel en brooche voor de hele misjpooche Mazzel en brooche voor de hele misjpooche Mazzel en brooche voor de hele misjpooche
My previous post was about Izmir Türk Radio, a station that I rarely receive. But Istanbul Türk Radio from Turkey is – together with Coruna, Valencia and Olympia Radio – very dominant here on the DSC frequencies.
I received this email QSL in January 2023, about 2 months after I restarted the hobby. At the time I didn’t have this weblog up and running. So this is a bit of a catch- up:
Unlike Izmir, Istanbul Radio can also be heard on HF frequencies, making it an easier catch for listeners outside Europe/Middle East.