I think I am chasing a QSL LRA36 RN Arcángel San Gabriel for about 40 years now. To be precise, the station started transmitting from Esperanza Base in 1979. That is exactly the year in which I started with my hobby as a 17 year old kid. They featured in every WRTH I bought since…
I heard them once, many years ago. But I never received a reply on my report. On Saturday July 8th this year at 19.00 h UTC I heard them again on the usual frequency of 15476 kHz in USB. I was afraid that I tuned in too late, as reception quality soon deteriorated, and after 19.15 h UTC I couldn’t pick up their signal anymore.
But during these 15 minutes I heard a conversation between a man and woman, and more importantly: a fragment of a passionate Argentinian ballad. As I could neither specify details of the discussion, nor the title of the song I sent a small MP3 clip along with my reception report. And one month later I got his beautiful PDF as QSL in return.
Clearly the Argentinian government has a geopolitical motive maintaining a shortwave radio station in Antarctica. That said I’m still grateful to the LRA36 team for their commitment to the DX-ing community all these years!
It is not always clear to me when LRA36 is in the air. They seem to have regular programs on Saturday between 18 and 22 h UTC. I also heard that they have programs on Monday and Wednesday evening (UTC). My advice is to monitor DX sites like SWL-ing post, HF Underground or Hard-Core-DX for the latest information. Reception reports can be send to lra36nacional@gmail.com .
Antarctica is the only section of the world I haven’t received a signal on shortwave .I’m going to try the frequency on the QSLcard . I’ve saw an article about radio stations at various bases .
Hi Carlos, apologies for late reply. Thank you for the interest in my website.
LRA36 is your best bet for Antarctic reception I would say. The only problem is that their schedule is subject to change and I’m not sure it is always reliable. So just google for the latest info. I was so lucky to receive British Antarctic Survey in the 90ies, both from mainland Antartica as well as from South Orkneys. Not sure if they still are on the air and if I would be able to catch them again as noise levels have increased so much these days. Could you share the article your read? I’m very interested.
Kind regards, Peter Reuderink