"It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on" - Marilyn Monroe
The night of July 25th/26th offered excellent reception conditions from the Azores. I heard all 6 NDBs including 3 new ones! Mr. Figueiredo from NAV Portugal was so kind to confirm my reception report. So my Azores collection is now complete
NDB HT Horta on 360 kHz is one of two NDBs on Faial Island. The other one, FIL on 380 kHz, is easier to receive in The Netherlands. Horta Airport is relatively small with flights to neighbouring islands in addition to a scheduled flight to Lisbon, Portugal.
During the opening on 22 May I received several stations from Bulgaria: BNR Radio Varna, Radio Shumen, Radio Hristo Botev and the national program Radio Horizont. Via reception.report@bnr.bg I received a beautiful QSL card confirming my reception report:
I received BNR Horizont via their 91 kW transmitter located in Kavarna, situated on the Black Sea coast.
I like it when an organisation understands that they are representing a country. And send QSLs to people who are interested. If anything Bulgaria is on my “bucket list” now for visiting European countries. My report of a reception of Radio Shumen on 87.6 MHz was confirmed by BNR reception.report@bnr.bg . They sent this beautiful QSL card by mail!
I received Radio Shumen with a sports coverage on a local sports game. The ID is clearly heard on 7 seconds in this audio clip:
There are a few Radio Shumen transmitters, but the one from Venets is one of the stronger ones with 100 kW. Not that this necessarily matters much with Sporadic E receptions.
And here is the front of the QSL card:
I picked up COPE Palencia during the sporadic E opening on July 20th with their local ID on 105.1 MHz. With 2 kW they are broadcasting from Monte Viejo to the south of the city of Palencia in Spain.
Manuel Lobejón, editor at COPE Palencia was so kind to reply with a fully detailed email confirming my reception. I sent my report to palencia@cope.es .
In the audio file you hear the annoucement of the network program “Fin de Semana” presented by Cristina Lópex Schlichting and the local ID.
Whereas it is always nice to hear and receive a QSL from a local outlet of one of the bigger networks in Spain, getting a smaller local radio station with a single transmitter confirmed is even more special.
During the very good Sporadic E opening on July 20th I received Radio Chinchilla, the local radio station for Chinchilla de Montearagón (Albacete) in Spain. They are broadcasting with 500 Watts and again I’m flabbergasted with the quality of the reception. During 20 minutes I was able to listen to a program called “The Story de Kylie Minogue”. Unfortunately they did fade out before I heard an ID:
My report to rchinformativos@gmail.com was confirmed with a brief email reply within a day:
Radio Chinchilla began broadcasting in December 1988. According to Wikipedia it has one of the highest audiences. Most of the programming it offers is self-produced, including news, music, sports, entertainment… It has its own news services and broadcasts 24 hours a day.
I didn’t know the small city of Chinchilla de Montearagón which has a population of 4600. But it is one of these beautiful Spanish towns with lots of history!
A very nice QSL letter from Jennifer Bath at NAV Canada for my reception of NDB YMH Mary’s Harbour on 250 kHz, 4012 kms away from my home location. It was not the first Canadian NDB that I received at my location (that was CA-281 Cartwright), but it is my first QSL. Thanks to Wolf, DE2WHG, for giving me the address tip.
To my surprise I wasn’t only able to receive this signal during summer, but also in pretty good quality as you can see on the picture below. I have to admit that with 1000 Watt the transmitter power is higher than most European beacons. And Roelof Bakker – and experienced NDB DX-er – told me that indeed this beacon is often stronger in summer than CA from Cartwright.
Mary’s Harbour Airport (YMH) is a small airport in Canada with domestic flights only, operated solely by Provincial Airlines (PAL Airlines). There are two non-stop destinations from Mary’s Harbour: Blanc-Sablon (YBX) and St. Lewis (YFX), each with around 9 flights per month.
The airport has one gravel runway and limited facilities. And no internet presence, so this is the best picture I could find:
RTV Slingeland is the local radio station for Winterswijk. They broadcast on 105 MHz with 100 Watt. Peter van der Wel was so kind to confirm my report.
On the internet I learned that RTV Slingeland became been part of 1Achterhoek. 1Achterhoek Radio was a merger between Gelre FM, A-FM (from Aalten) and what was then called Slingeland FM. Leuk FM is now also part of 1Achterhoek. One of the reasons was that stand alone operation became to costly. And the merger is in line with the Dutch strategy to move from local to fewer regional radio stations.
But already in 2023 RTV Slingeland left 1Achterhoek following a dispute over program content. Apparently they are looking for other partners now. RTV Slingeland is named after the little river Slinge, south of Winterswijk.
Not my first QSL of this station. I received one earlier in 2023. But there is no harm in sending an additional report to a station that keeps a tradition alive. I heard them during the Easter weekend. As last time the QSL was part of a lengthy PDF with lots of history… I sent my report to wmrscotland@mail.com and got a reply after 16 weeks. Hey, it’s a hobby after all, so things can take a bit of time.
Like last year the German service of Radio Taiwan International ran a few test transmissions to find the best frequencies for their summer broadcasts from Tamsui. My reception report to deutsch@rti.org.tw was awarded with a beautiful QSL that arrived 6 weeks later by mail.
I received Leuk FM from Zieuwent with 32 Watts on 106.9 FM when visiting Winterswijk. Leuk FM is the local radio for Aalten/Berkelland. Sven Dimmendaal confirmed my report, stating that Leuk FM is now part of 1Achterhoek. There is a little bit more to say about 1Achterhoek, but that’s for another post.
© 2025 Peter's DX Corner
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑