Month: December 2023 (Page 1 of 3)

QSL Yule Marathon RNEI & friends 5940 kHz

December 31, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

For the reception of the Yule Marathon on December 25th I received this QSL from RNEI (Radio Northern Europe International) & friends. The broadcast came from the 125 kW transmitter in Woofferton, United Kingdom.
I sent a report to Radio Carpathia via radiocarpathia@gmail.com for their part of the program. A separate report was sent to RNEI as well, but I understand from their own website that they are at least 1 year behind in answering reports.

QSL 125 kW Yule Marathon by RNEI & Friends

The 125 kW should have guaranteed excellent reception quality. Unfortunately the frequency planners at Woofferton had not foreseen that Radio Piepzender, a low power station from Zwolle, The Netherlands, would also use this frequency on a Monday (normally they are only active in the weekend). They were relaying Radio Experience. Shortly before the broadcast an email request was sent asking them to move to 6185 kHz. But that was not honored. And so the RNEI transmission was partly ruined by interference.

It is remarkable that Piepzender with their advertised 150 Watt could produce interference with a 125 kW station as far as Italy and Ukraine, so maybe their power output is a bit higher.

This is the final post of this year… see you back in 2024!

QSL Bjuröklubb 518 kHz

December 30, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A nice surprise at the end of this year was this traditional QSL card for my reception of SAH Bjuröklubb with a NAVTEX message on 518 kHz. With 1656 km this is the most distant station from the three NAVTEX stations in Sweden. The other two SAA Gislovhammer and SAS Varberg are just over 700 km away.

QSL Bjuroklubb NAVTEX — a traditional QSL card for my reception of Bjuröklubb NAVTEX on 518 kHz

Unfortunately, the location Bjuröklubb was not indicated on my QSL. And I don’t think it is hidden below the stickers that Post NL apparently needed to put all over the card ☹️. I sent my report to swedentraffic@sjofartsverket.se . Please note that JRCC Göteborg is responsible for DSC safety watch.

QSL Radio Timișoara 630 kHz

December 29, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 4 Comments

QSL Radio Timisoara, Romania — QSL letter from Radio Timisoara, Romania

After 50 (!) weeks I received this scanned letter from Radio Timișoara for my reception of their broadcast on 630 kHz. The email was sent by Dana Florea, “Redactor” and “Marketing-Publicate”. Attached were some nice photo’s of Timișoara as well. Email address: office@radiotimisoara.ro

For more information about this station please check my post on the Radio Timișoara QSL I received via the English desk of Radio Romania International a few weeks ago.

QSL CKDO 1580 Oshawa ON

December 28, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 5 Comments

Personally I still struggle a bit with the use of random KiwiSDRs to collect QSLs. But propagation conditions are poor these days. On top of that all the festive lighting doesn’t help the noise level. And the KiwiSDR I used is owned by the Medium Wave Circle I recently joined. Located in Scotland it still counts as Transatlantic DX. Plenty of excuses 😀…

On 1580 kHz I received CKDO from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. I happened to tune in to a program presented by Gary Berarde, who is also music director at CKDO. So I decided to sent Gary an email. He was so kind to answer in a few days and says that they welcome DX reports!

e QSL from CDKDO 1580 AM, from Oshawa, Ontario

CKDO is a 10 kW station located in Oshawa, just east of Toronto, at Lake Ontario. The station is owned by Durham Radio Inc., and not broadcasting from nearby Durham but from Oshawa. It targets the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area with classic hits and oldies.

QSL ABC Germany via Channel 292

December 27, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Around the Christmas weekend there were quite a few producers who had their programs aired via stations like Channel 292 or for example Woofferton. I got his nice QSL from ABC Germany, via Channel 292 on 9670 kHz. I sent my report to detvanrijn@gmx.net .

e QSL ABC Germany via Channel 292 Germany

The QSL was accompanied with a long detailed email in Dutch from Detlev Reiermann, who was on the air with his DJ name “Det van Rijn”. Detlev grew up in Gronau, close to the border with The Netherlands, close to Enschede – a Free Radio hotspot in those days. As a teenager he worked as DJ in discotheques and hospital radio. And in this capacity he was asked in 1977 to produce a show for a local (Free Radio – I guess) – station. That show was called “ABC Germany”.

Detlev turned his hobby into his profession and worked as sound/video engineer for WDR and as assistant technical director for Deutschlandfunk. When he retired he decided to revive ABC Germany as a hobby. The show is presented in English, German and Dutch.

The next special ABC Germany program is scheduled for next Sunday, December 31st, from 13-15 h CET on 9670 kHz. Regular broadcasts as indicated on the QSL card.

QSL Radio Carpathia via Channel 292

December 24, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

Radio Carpathia is a program with music from Eastern Europe via Channel 292. For each broadcast 2 “paper” QSLs are awarded. The program maker Luca Trifan promised that as soon as the postal services restart in January (apparently they have days off in Romania) I will get a QSL by regular mail… so I guess I was lucky: let’s see! Address: radiocarpathia@gmail.com

Luca also made me aware of the upcoming programs:
I invite you to tune in to the 125 kW Yule Marathon by RNEI & Friends on Monday, 25.12.2023 between 1400-1700 UTC on 5940 kHz from Woofferton, with the following schedule:

1400 UTC: Mamma’s K-Drama
1430 UTC: Radio Carpathia
1500 UTC: RNEI 48
1600 UTC: DK Radio
1630 UTC: 16 Gwendoline Street

I broadcast on the third Sunday of every month at 1200 CET on 9670 kHz with a directional booster at azimuth 307.

e-QSL from Radio Carpathia via Channel 292

Merry Christmas from the tallest Christmas Tree in the World!

December 21, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone who follows or just visits my blog a Merry Christmas!

On the picture above you see the Tallest Christmas Tree of the World. Almost 370 meters tall, with lights connected on the guy wires of the Gerbrandy Radio/TV tower near IJsselstein. The tower is about 14 kilometers away from my QTH, but I can easily see it from my house! If visibility permits, you can even spot this tree from 40-50 kilometers distance. This year we celebrate the 25th time that the lights went on.

More info on: De Grootste Kerstboom

QSL MRCC Bilbao 2187.5 kHz

December 21, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A nice fully detailed email confirmation of my reception of MRCC Bilbao, Spain, on 2187.5 kHz. I sent them both an email (2nd attempt to bilbao@sasemar.es ) and a letter. From the answer I guess that it was the letter that made it to the control room.

Email as QSL for my reception of MRCC Bilbao on 2187.5 kHz

Whereas Valencia, Coruna and Las Palmas Radio are frequently heard with DSC messages, the MRCCs seem less active on MF. There are quite a few of them though, but the ITU list indicates a presence on VHF/UHF only. Classaxe however shows five stations that were logged on 2187.5 kHz in recent years: Finisterre, Tarifa, Gijon, Valencia and Bilbao. The first two are most frequently heard apparently.

e-QSLs from Romania

December 20, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

The various reports I sent to the English desk of Radio Romania International on my reception of regional stations were all answered politely. A great service. They promised to send me a QSL, but they were changing to a new e-QSL policy. In November their e-QSLs became available, and yes, I received all of them in one email:

See also my previous posts for details on these stations:
Radio Oltenia Craiova, 1314 kHz
Radio Timisoara, 630 kHz
Marosvásárhelyi Radio, 1323 kHz
Antena Satelor, 1314 kHz

QSL SuperClan Radio via Channel 292