Month: September 2024 (Page 1 of 3)

QSL Welle 370 Das Funkerberg Radio

September 29, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 1 Comment

QSL Welle 370 Funkerberg Radio — QSL card from Welle 370 “Das Funkerberg Radio” via Nauen

A QSL card from Welle 370 “Das Funkerberg Radio”, from Königs Wusterhausen, Germany. I’m not only very pleased to receive an old school QSL card, but this is also a broadcaster that represents a lot of radio history.

As early as 1911 the “Telegrafentruppe” of the “Deutsches Heeres” (German Army) started radio activities from the Funkerberg, just southeast of Berlin. Initially the antennas were raised using balloons, but between 1913 and 1916 impressive antennas and transmitter facilities were built on this location. Soon the facilities were in use for the distribution of telegrams and weather messages. On 22 December 1920 a “Weihnachtskonzert” was broadcast from this location: the start of the “Rundfunk” in Germany. In 1925 there were already 20 transmitters operating from this location.

After WW2 the transmitters were removed from the Funkerberg, but new equipment was also added, including a new 100 kW LW transmitter. It seems that most of the operations ended in the 90-ies with concern for “electro-smog” being quoted as a reason with only an 800 Watt FM station “Sender KW” remaining.

Today Funkerberg is a Museum, a must do for radio enthusiasts. And Welle 370 is still broadcasting from Funkerberg on 810 kHz (370 meter), albeit with only 8 Watts. Given the presence of Radio Scotland on the same frequency that makes it a bit challenging to receive them in the Netherlands. But fortunately they also broadcast their programs from Nauen (as was my reception) and other relay stations.

Welle 370 has very nice programs made by radio enthusiasts with topics on German radio history. I listened to a student who made a program on the competition between radio and record companies. Please follow them on their website and tune in to their programs!

QSL Radio 2000 Südtirol 97.4 MHz

September 28, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Another station from Südtirol that I heard during my holiday in the beautiful Ahrntal. Like Radio Holiday the station covers the valleys of Südtirol with multiple low power transmitters. Radio 2000 has 20 of them. Where the valleys are wider as is the case near the capital of Südtirol Bozen (Bolzano) power is a few kilowatts. But the transmitter I received in Luttach has only 200 Watt. If you know the area it is no surprise that Luttach is chosen as location because it is where the river Ahr makes a 90^o turn. From Luttach it possible to cover entrance and “Talschluss” of the Tauferer Ahrntal.

Coverage area of the 200W Radio 2000 transmitter in Luttach

I sent my report to info(at)radio2000.it and got a direct reply from Mr. Lukas Thaler.

QSL Radio Vorarlberg (ORF) 98. 2 MHz

September 28, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Not to be confused with Antenne Vorarlberg, Radio Vorarlberg is the regional station of the ORF, the national public broadcaster of Austria. I heard Radio Vorarlberg while staying in Altenstadt near Ulm (Germany). 98.2 MHz is the main transmitter with 50 kW from Bregenz. Other frequencies (with the exception of the 4 kW transmitter at Bludenz) are mostly relays with less than 100 Watts of power.

There is a webform on the site to contact the Vorarlberg station as well as other regional stations. But as I wanted to include a picture I sent my report to kundendienst(at)orf.at which got forwarded to the Vorarlberg team. From them I learned you could als use this address: publikum.vorarlberg(at)orf.at

QSL Radio Frieloo 6290 kHz

September 27, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

For the reception of Radio Frieloo on 6290 kHz I received a friendly QSL email from the operator. I sent my report to frieloo(at)outlook.com .

Radio Frieloo is a pirate station operating from the province Gelderland in The Netherlands. The operator told me that he is not often in the air. When it is the case it is mostly to test antenna designs. The transmitter is a R&S with 100 Watt as shown in the picture.

QSL Radio Holiday Südtirol 99.6 MHz

September 27, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 1 Comment

Another souvenir from my favourite holiday destination Südtirol: email to QSL my reception of Radio Holiday on 99.6 MHz (Luttach, Italy). They cover South Tirol with 14 transmitters ranging in power between 20 and 1000 Watt only. I guess that in these mountainous regions line of sight requirements result in more antennes rather than high transmitter power.

I heard them in Steinhaus in the beautiful Ahrntal, only 6 kilometers away. So not really DX, but as a said: a nice holiday souvenir for a station that is very difficult to receive, if at all, in The Netherlands. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

Email QSL for Radio Holiday from Südtirol

Coverage map op Radio Holiday Südtirol (source: FM Scan)

QSL Hitradio RT1 90.2 MHz

September 26, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 1 Comment

At a distance of around 600 kilometers from my home QTH FM stations in the southern part of Germany are difficult if not impossible to catch. They are too close for Sporadic E. But also out of range for Tropospheric DX, particularly when transmitter power is relatively low, as is the case for Hitradio RT1. So I took the opportunity to listen to them while I was visiting the area.

Hitradio RT1 has 10 FM transmitters in the Schwaben region in Germany, west of Munich. Power varies between 0.1 and 0.3 kW, with one station at 1 kW. They carry separate local programs for the city of Augsburg, Neuburg, Nordschwaben and Südschwaben. I received the latter one while in Altenstadt, 28 km away. I sent my report to the local station: info@rt1-suedschwaben.de . Markus Sampl replied within a day.

Hitradio coverage map (source: FM Scan).

QSL SWR DasDing 98.9 MHz

September 25, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 4 Comments

A very friendly but also a bit of an odd email to QSL my reception of SWR DasDing on 98.9 MHz. DasDing (“The Thing”) is the youth radio station of the Südwest Rundfunk, the commercial free radio for the Bundesländer (“States”) Rheinland-Pfalz (Rheinland Palatinate) and Baden-Württemberg in Germany. I heard the station during an overnight stay in Altenstadt, 28 kilometers away from the location of the 1 kW transmitter near Ulm.

Tina from DasDing wrote:

“Actually we are only broadcasting in Baden-Württemberg und Rheinland-Pfalz. But it could be that you have received the 98.9 transmitter from Ulm”.

My reception location was about a kilometer across the border in neighbouring Bavaria. Oh oh these naughty radio waves: propagating to where they are not supposed to go… 😂 . Thank you Tina for the confirmation!

QSL email from SWR DasDing 98.9 MHz (Ulm)

QSL Antenne Vorarlberg 106.5 MHz

September 24, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

QSL email von Antenne Vorarlberg 106.5 MHz

I received Antenne Vorarlberg while staying in Altenstadt near Ulm, Germany. With a distance of 77 kilometers that is apparently just within the coverage area of the powerful 50 kW Antenne Vorarlberg transmitter located near Bregenz in Austria. This is their main transmitter, the other 7 ones are mere repeaters.

I listened to “Party-Mix mit Enrico Ostendorf”. Nicole was so kind to confirm my report sent to service(at)antennevorarlberg.at .

My reception location Altenstadt was exactly on the border of the coverage area

QSL NDB VNA-364 Vanja

September 23, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

A QSL from NDB VNA-354 Vanja, a navigation aid for Umea Airport in Sweden.

Earlier I received a e-QSL for my reception of the other NDB for Umea Airport WU-329. The engineering team that reached out to me promised to send a QSL card by mail for the other beacon VNA-364 once they had completed their maintenance visit and were able to take a few pictures. Last week I received it!

It is always nice to get a picture of an NDB. Sometimes I’m able to trace them on Streetview in Google Maps. But as Christoffer from the Engineering team explained: no chance for VNA which is pretty much off the beaten track. The picture below shows the access path to the beacon.

The transmitter is SA-100D transmitter with 100 Watt. Christoffer told me it’s the same as WU uses and the stations are near identical in terms of looks.

NDB VNA Vanja transmitter building and antenna

QSL NDB NMS-329 Namsos

September 16, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 3 Comments

QSL for NDB NMS-329, a navigation aid for Namsos Airport. This regional airport is located in central Norway, situated along the river Namsen, which flows into the Namsenfjord.
Namsos Airport has one of the smallest runways for airports with regular flights. They are operated by Widerøe with destinations Trondheim, Oslo and Rørvik, as part of a public service obligation. As Trondheim is only 165 kilometers away, and roads between Namsos and Trondheim are upgraded, many people travel by car to Trondheim to take a flight from there.

The beacon is one of those that I receive quite regularly in the Netherlands. Thanks to Goran Hardenmark for helping me out with the contact address at Avinor for the QSL!