Dark clouds are gathering on this e-QSL from Zender Akenzo 5845 kHz. Not sure if there is a connection with the three lightning bolts…
Radio Akenzo is a Free Radio station on the 48 meter band. I sent my report to akenzoteam@hotmail.com .
Month: January 2024 (Page 2 of 3)
A fully detailed eQSL from Radio Veronica on 5955 kHz. The transmitter is located in Westdorpe/Overslag in the Zeeuws Vlaanderen region near the border of The Netherlands with Belgium. The transmitter is listed with 1 kW. HF propagation can be a bit tricky, but given the signal strength overhere in Woerden (120 kilometers) I do think they are broadcasting with less power than that.
I sent my report to qsl@radioveronica.nl and received the eQSL from qslcards@radiocorp.nl
The station is owned by Herbert Visser. He is founder/owner of Radiocorp , the company behind radiostations like 100%NL, SLAM! and SUNLITE. Herbert apparently runs the short wave station on 5955 as a hobby project. Broadcasts started in December 2021, intially relaying the Sunlite programs.
In 2023 Radiocorp was bought by Mediahuis, the company that also bought Radio Veronica. This probably explains the switch to relay Radio Veronica programs since end 2023. Herbert changed his eQSL format accordingly. Many shortwave listeners had hoped that Veronica Vintage would be relayed, which would be a better fit for an AM transmitter.
Since December 29th the LPAM station Rivierenland Radio can be heard on 891 kHz. Their 100 W transmitter is located in Huissen near Arnhem. That is only 74 kilometers east from my QTH. The only other station on this frequency is Radio Algerie which, coming from the south, can be “nulled out” easily with my loop antenna. So pretty good reception here!
I sent my QSL request to rivierenland-radio@rivierenlandradio.nl
There is quite a bit of variety among the Dutch LPAM stations. Some of them, like Album AM, are hobby stations interested in technical aspects and DX reception. Other stations are a legal continuation of a former Free Radio station, bringing a few hours of music a week, mostly during weekends only.
And there are stations like Rivierenland Radio who have a more professional 24/7 approach, and where the AM presence is a just an extension of what they are already doing on DAB+ and internet. Via DAB+ Rivierenland Radio can be heard between Arnhem and Eindhoven, in the eastern part of the Netherlands.
There are 9 active NDBs in Bulgaria. During the CLE299 event I was able to receive 7 of them. Mr. Kostadinov, Deputy Director Operational Systems was so kind to sent me an email confirming my reception of:
GNA-284 Gorna
BOZ-312 Bozhurishte
DWN-350 Devnya for Varna
KMN-399 Burgas/Kamenar
PDV-450 Plovdiv
WAK-490 Vakarel
PD-537 Plovdiv
Despite the distance, which is between 1719 and 1958 km from my home QTH, I receive these beacons on an almost daily basis. But on the other hand I did not yet receive the remaining two: BD-297 and BU-321…
Via ONDA (Office Nationale des Airports) in Morocco I received an email to QSL my reception of NDB CDS-345 Daouarat. This beacon is located south of Casablanca. Mr. Fouad Naji, Chef de Division NAV, encouraged the passion of a DX-er, which is nice. I sent my report to communication@onda.ma .
I’m looking for a neat way to document my NDB QSLs other than just printing the emails. The example above is what I’m currently thinking about. The relevant info, email, company logo and the signature recorded by Pskov.
What do you think? Comments are more than welcome!
Nothing beats getting a real QSL card in your mailbox. Ideally with nice stamps on it. So getting two QSLs from Radio Carpathia made me very happy yesterday. Thank you Luca!
The first QSL was for the reception of a “regular” Radio Carpathia program via Channel 292.
The second QSL was for the reception of the Christmas special via Woofferton together with RNEI, Gwendoline Street and DK radio.
Radio Carpathia makes nice programs featuring a selection of contemporary music from East Europe. They are being broadcast via WRMI and Channel 292.
I still see a lot of reports of “Nuuk Radio” and “Cape Farewell” radio in the NAVTEX community. That is for NAVTEX stations with letters M and W. I sent a report for Nuuk (W in Area IV) and Simiutaq (M in Area IV) to Bo Mogensen at Tusass, for my reception of these stations.
He made me aware that there are only three stations left, and that my information is outdated. Call sign M is for Simituaq, broadcasting for regions 5,6 ,7 and 8.
Call sign W is for Igdlutaligssuaq (Kook Island), with messages for regions 8,9 ,10, 11. Call sign I (in Area XVIII) is Upernavik, covering regions 11,12,13 and 14…
If you see this map the obvious question is “who covers the East Coast”? But that is done by Grindavik (regions 3,4,5) and Saudanes Radio (regions 1,2,3) from Iceland.
When he sent my QSL for CFGO “TSN 1200” in November last year, Rick Furniss, station engineer, wrote that their sister station CFRA 580 Ottawa should be an easier catch. Main reason is that the antenna direction is a bit more favorable for Europe.
Well, it turned out to be a bit of an effort. On 576 kHz Bulgarian National Radio is present with 270 kW. What is worse, they are exactly on the back of my loop antenna, so that doesn’t help. Radio Nacional Espana is present with powerful transmitters on 576 and 585. They are more on the “null” of the antenna, but use a close to 10 kHz bandwith if you ask me. If any of these stations plays music 580 is done for. And finally, propagation conditions in December were not that good…
But this week I managed to pick up CFRA 580 in audible quality, with commercials for Ottawa and Ontario. Within a day I had my QSL from Rick. He told me they were operating on 30 kW (night). I also got a photo of the CFRA antennas at sunset made when Rick was inspecting newly installed tower flashers. And a photo of the studio that morning with Patrica Boal at the mic for her show “Ottawa at work” with producer Cory in the back.
As far as Rick knows I’m the only DX-er that now has both CFGO and CFRA from Ottawa confirmed. To be honest, that would surpise me, but thanks to Rick for the QSLs!
Another long wave icon is gone. The longwave transmitter of Danmarks Radio in Kalundborg on 243 kHz was taken off the air on December 31st. Sadly that is the third big longwave station gone that I posted about on this blog. On January 1st, 2023 the RTL Beidweiler transmitter on 234 kHz was taken off the air. And RTE Summerhill on 252 (formerly Atlantic 252) left the theater in April.
Fortunately Mr. Jens Seeberg, former engineer at the station, was so kind to award my reception report with a nice QSL card. The photo was taken by him and a colleague engineer making a tour by airplane. I sent my report to jseeberg@post3.tele.dk
The site in Kalundborg was opened in 1927. At some point in time the transmitter had an output of 300 kW. In recent years operations were already trimmed down to 50 kW, and transmissions confined to shipping weather forecast and news bulletins.
Just in:
The first Radio Caroline North broadcast of 2024 is between 13th-14th January, live from our radio ship Ross Revenge.
You’ll hear some great music from the 60s to early 90s – plus a chance to win some goodies from our Web Shop, courtesy of Leslie Salter from Hull.
Listen on 648 AM across England, The Netherlands, Belgium and beyond, on 1368 AM in the North/North-West courtesy of our friends at Manx Radio, worldwide online here via our Caroline North Player, on smart speakers and the Radio Caroline app.
We’d love to hear from you during the broadcast via memories@radiocaroline.co.uk and remember, it’s the only email address that gets you straight through to our ‘North’ broadcasters.
VERON : NL 14228
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