Month: January 2024 (Page 3 of 3)

My CLE299 results

January 9, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

From Christmas to New Year I participated in the Coordinated Listening Event CLE299 organized by the NDB list group. I like CLE’s as they give you a bit of insight in the performance of your equipment. The goal for this event was to:

Choose a bearing (antenna direction); both forward and back bearing counts.
In any country crossed by your bearing log up to maximum 10 NDBs.

There is obviously a bit of strategy involved in this one. Initially I thought I should go for the former Yugoslavian republics, as Croatia in particular brought me many stations in the past. But that would have given me only Scotland and England on the back bearing.
So in the end I went for 117/297 degrees as this added Ireland and North Ireland to the list. Targets in the direction South East were Germany, Austria and Czechia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In addition to The Netherlands I was allowed to count the North Sea as a “country” as well.

My results during CLE299: 94 stations along the 117/297 bearing.

Most of the 94 beacons I logged are shown in the picture above. With 2284 kilometers Izmir/Cigli (CIG) was the most distant beacon heading SE. It is the first NDB I received from Turkey ever!!! Benbecula (BBA) on the Outer Hebrides towards the NW is 985 kilometers from my QTH.

NDBs per country: IRL (7), NIR (2), SCT (10), ENG (10), XOE (2), HOL (1), DEU (10), AUT (10), CZE (9), HNG (5), SRB (10), ROU (10), BUL(7), TUR (1)

QSL Zuid West Brabant AM 1467 kHz

January 8, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Zuid West Brabant is a low power medium wave station from Heerle. A little village between Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal in the province Noord-Brabant in The Netherlands. With 100 Watt they are active on weekends. Within a day I got their QSL via zuidwestbrabant@hotmail.com.

QSL Zuidwest Brabant AM, Heerle — eQSL from LPAM station Zuid West Brabant AM from Heerle on 1467 kHz

Funny detail: I happened to come across this station while listening via a KiwiSDR in the North of Scotland. At 970 kilometers distance reception was still quite good. Nevertheless I switched to my home QTH, only 80 kilometers away from Heerle.

QSL NDB PEP-297 Prilep

January 7, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A QSL for NDB PEP on 297 kHz from Prilep, North Macedonia. My 2nd QSL from this country. The beacon is located 1733 kms from my QTH. The Cyrillic text on the email translates as “keep up the good work”!

email QSL for NDB PEP on 297 kHz from North Macedonia

QSL Asfalttelegrafen 1494 kHz

January 6, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Asfalttelegrafen was on air from December 23rd until January 5th. I tried a couple of times around Christmas, but I couldn’t get a decent signal here in Woerden. Tracking some KiwiSDRs I learned that the signal reached the German coast, but then it quickly deteriorated.

On January 4th however I was lucky however. And although a strong noise source on 1495.25 kHz forced me to notch everything between 1000 and 1500 Hz I could recognize the various titles played and picked up a clear ID (at 24 secs in the clip).

A day later I received a lengthy and detailed email QSL from Torleif Roos, who is DXer and HAM operator as well. Asfalttelegrafen is located in Ludvika, Sweden, 1097 km from my QTH. I noticed the name is sometimes also spelled as Asfaltstelegrafen.

eQSL from Asfaltstelegrafen, Ludvika, Sweden

The station got its name from “Asfalttelegrafen”, a program on the Swedish National Radio 3rd program on FM around 1975. In the late Sunday nights before midnight it brought rock music. Unfortunately private individuals can’t obtain a permanent license in Sweden, so Torleif has to apply for a 14 day license every time he want’s to broadcast. More information can be found on the radio sweden international website.

The transmitter is a 1 kW Hercules. It is connected to a “L” antenna, 48.5 meters long above an earthplane created by 16 cables of 50 meters each. Broadcast times were 20:00 – 03:55 h UTC, which is the window created when Radio Moldova is not in the air. During those hours the frequency is empty in Europe, with the next station being in Iran.

The Hercules transmitter of Asfalttelegrafen

QSL 100 kW Marathon Moosbrunn 6070 kHz

January 5, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Several program providers were very active during the Christmas season. I already reported on RNEI and friends, active on 5940 kHz, but hampered by Radio Piepzender…. The 100 kW Marathon organized by SM Radio Dessau was more succesful. Good reception without interference. While I listened to Dessau and DARC I provided details on the other stations… which cost me browny points 😜. I promise to do better next year mr. Max Berger from SM Radio Dessau!

QSL for SM Radio Dessau and friends on 6070 kHz — e QSL from SM Radio Dessau for 100 kW Marathon via Moosbrunn

I sent reports to some of the individual contributors… So far only Intensiv Radio from RadioDXfreunde replied…

QSL Galei Zahal 1287 kHz

January 4, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 3 Comments

Yesterday I wrote about the reactivation of Galei Zahal on 1287 and 945 kHz. In the evening hours both frequencies could be received very well here in The Netherlands. This morning the QSL for Galei Zahal 1287 kHz showed up in my email box. Galei Zahal (or Galatz) is the radio station of the IDF (Israeli Army).

email confirming Galei Zahal (IDF Radio) on 1287 kHz

The transmitter on 1287 kHz is located in She’ar Yashuv, in the North of Israel, only 3 kilometers away from the border with Lebanon.

Galei Zahal at She’ar Yashuv (Google Maps Street View)

Galei Zahal back on 1287 and 945 kHz

January 3, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Galei Zahal from Israel has reactivated their medium wave transmitter on 1287 kHz (50/100 kW), and there are also reports that 945 kHz is active. Galei Zahal is the broadcasting station of the Israeli Army IDF. It’s also abbreviated as “Galatz”.

I only tried briefly to receive this station this morning as I was busy with finishing the Collective Listening Event 299 on NDBs. The local LPAM station Kilrock on 1287 kHz was dominating the frequency. But guess what? They sent a message in response to listeners complaining about interference in the evening, explaining that it was Galei Zahal causing the issue. Check this YouTube recording of the Kilrock message (in Dutch obviously).

In 1999 I received Galei Zahal on 6895 kHz, for which I received a QSL. But for more than a decade they have been active on FM only.

QSL received from IDF station Galei Zahal in 1999

UPDATE: received the station today (3JAN24) on 1287 kHz, around 17:30 h UTC, fading in/out over local LPAM Kilrock, up to near perfect quality. Later in the evening also audible on 945 kHz, here well over Radio Romania Actualitati.

QSL SAQ Grimeton Xmas 2023 on 17.2 kHz

January 2, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 4 Comments

Of the 4 SAQ Grimeton broadcasts I was able to listen to in 2023 this was by far the best reception with a clear CW signal, S4. A week later I received their e-QSL!

QSL SAQ Grimeton Christmas 2023 — e-QSL for the SAQ Grimeton Christmas Eve morning transmission 2023

SAQ Grimeton is a former wireless telegraph station in Sweden. It generates radio signals using an AC generator (called an alternator) designed by the Swedish engineer Alexanderson. This technology was used prior to the development of vacuum tube oscillators. You can learn more about the history of this station and its planned transmissions on the website of the Alexander assocation.

QSL Weekend Music Radio 6295 kHz

January 1, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A 21 (!) page PDF file served as a QSL from Weekend Music Radio 6295 kHz. Including a fully detailed QSL card, legacy QSL cards, and lots of background information and photo’s from Weekend Music Radio.