I received a nice and personal QSL email from Mrs. Fadela Yahiaoui Boudjelal at Radio Laghouat from Algeria. I heard them on 87.6 MHz, my first reception of an Algerian radio station on FM.
Mrs. Boudjelal writes that Laghouat is a beautiful oasis in the south of Algeria and invites everyone to visit. The funny thing is that, if you look on the map, Laghouat is pretty much in the north of Algeria. That said there is basically nothing south of it other than Sahara desert. It reminded me of my time in Edmonton, which was also referred to as “Northern Alberta”, basically because there was pretty much nothing north of it (while geographically it was located in the south).
With thanks to Patrick Robic and Artur Fernández Llorella for helping me to find the correct address.
A reader of this blog, Abdelilah (thank you for commenting) suggested that I did not know a lot about Algeria, and he is right. But, you learn through this hobby. In 1849 Laghouat was conquered by the French. The French ordered the slaughter of the entire population and the destruction of the town. Two thirds of the population were butchered before the order was withdrawn and the town was spared. No surprise maybe that the armed revolt against the French in 1955 started in Laghouat.
That’s a nice one!
Thank you Ruud!
hi il from algeria, and i I welcome you to this charming country. I know that it is strange to you and you know little about it .73
Hi Abdelilah,
Thanks for reading my blog. And I want to make sure that you don’t misinterpret my post about what is truly “southern Algeria”. It just struck me because of the similarity with what I experienced when living in Canada, namely that geographical orientation is often skewed by population numbers. And yes, it is true, I do not know a lot about Algeria, but it is the hobby that makes me learn. So now I know what the role of Laghouat was in the Algerian revolution, but also why that was. As you will see: I’ve added this to my post. Other than that, I’m just not good in warm climates, I prefer the cold. 73s, Peter.
On the contrary, I did not misunderstand. I am just not good at English. I use translation, Your response was full of energy, Peter. I really appreciate your surprise about the geographical location. I also wondered when I was young about the reason for mentioning an area that belongs to the south simply because it has a desert climate and is somewhat close to it.I am very happy to communicate with you and I am happy to respond with a kind response .
مع أجمل التحيات
Thank you Abdelilah for your explanation. Do you speak French? Je comprends assez bien la langue française quand je la lis, mais j’ai du mal à la parler. Mais vous pouvez toujours me parler en français. Êtes-vous également un DXer ? Si vous avez des questions sur les radios que je reçois, vous êtes les bienvenus. Peut-être qu’en retour je pourrai vous poser des questions sur les radios de la belle Algérie !
73s, Peter