I’m not so much into HAM radio. Not that I have anything against HAMs – on the contrary – but there is already so much to listen to that I decided not to go there yet. If I’m going to do HAM I want to be able to transmit myself.
That said, I’ve found SSTV always attractive. And particularly when MF conditions aren’t great I don’t mind to have one of my receivers scanning 14230 kHz (or another SSTV). And so I picked up WA1QZK from Boston.
Intercontinental DX is always nice. Problem is that as an SWL (even when registered with VERON) you don’t always have access to email address information in a database like QRZ.com. But Ron, operator of WA1QKZ was so kind to share his email with SWLs as well, so I sent a report… and received the QSL card below. Thank you Ron!
Pheww.. this one was a little bit tense… Already 5 days ago I got an email prompt that my QSL from NHK was on its way… that’s how the Dutch Postal Service works which is great, but apparently it still took them 5 days to deliver my card. In the mean time I was wondering if they delivered it to the wrong address.
QSL from NHK Japan… might be their final QSL on paper…
Normally I wouldn’t have mind so such, but this was the last chance to get a traditional NHK QSL… Fortunately, today I found it in my mailbox.
I feel a little bit sad about this one, and I’m angry as well. Running a shortwave radio station requires a million dollar budget, but it also requires qualified technical personnel. So sending out a few QSLs per year to people that have a true technical interestest in your station doesn’t seem a bad idea… The “Finance Dudes” seem to have different perspective. Anyway, it is what it is… and this one goes on file. Thank you NHK for all the years that you did grant dedicated listeners a QSL!
It’s April… and I’ve a bit of a feeling this is the Doldrum season for us DX-ers. Winter propagation conditions on mediumwave are behind us. During sunny days the solar panel interference makes DX on MF/HF nearly impossible, and regular SpE conditions on FM are still at least a month away…
But radio is never boring, there is always something to look into. So I thought it might not a be a bad idea to spend some time this year in scanning the FM band for local radio. After all it is almost 50 years after local radio was legalized in The Netherlands.
Following the demise of offshore radio stations like Veronica and Noordzee, the government of The Netherlands allowed some experiments with local radio. And the band between 100 and 108 MHz was empty… except for pirate stations taking the opportunity (but that’s a story for another blog). Between 1984 and 1988 there was an “explosion” of local FM radio stations in The Netherlands. Mind you, in those days internet was not available to the public, and both city councils and entrepreneurs saw this as a must have and an opportunity to connect with a local audience.
QSL email from RTV Krimpenerwaard 106.6 FM, a local FM station in “my backyard”
40 years later it seems that a lot of these stations have merged, just as the municipalities they served merged into larger entities. RTV Krimpenerwaard is a good example. In 1989/1990 I received Radio Vrolek (from Nederlek), Radio Vlistam (from Vlist/Stolwijk) and Radio Bergambacht. Together with Radio Zilverstad from Schoonhoven they merged into RTV Krimpenerwaard… just as these villages (and of course, Schoonhoven is a “stad”) merged into the municipality Krimpenerwaard.
Coverage area of RTV Krimpenerwaard… one of the most beautiful areas in The Netherlands, called “Groene Hart” (Green Heart).
The interesting thing is that is doesn’t seem to stop here. If you browse for the website of RTV Krimpenerwaard you end up on the website of RTV Midden Holland, home for radio stations in the region we refer to as “Het Groene Hart”. Including my own home town radio “RPL FM” in Woerden. Definitely professional, up to date… but also more and more regional radio rather than local radio… Should we fear this is a bit like what happened to Indepent Local Radio in the UK, with all these stations being bought by “Smooth” or “Gold” only to be shut down in the current era? Your views???
Below the QSLs I got from VROLEK, VlistAM, and Studio Bergambacht…
This year I had again the privilege of spending some time on Curacao. Like last year I brought a radio with me: the Tecsun PL-368 I won in the SWL 2024 contest. I focused a little bit more on the upper side of the MW band this time. Below a list of the stations I received. Quite a few from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, more than a year ago. The most distant stations I heard were ZSN1 Nassau and Radio Monumental from Quito (both 1700 km), WFED with a WTOP program from Washington (3100 km) and LS6 Radio Buenos Aires (5300 km). I was pleased to receive ZBVI from the British Virgin Islands as well as the Voice of St. Maarten, two new DX countries for me. I am still waiting for a reply from the latter station.
From December 1st, 2024, KBC is active on 891 kHz as a LPAM broadcaster from Huissen, The Netherlands. They succeeded Rivierenland Radio.
e-QSL KBC Huissen 891 kHz
I heard them with a program with music from the offshore radio era. It was called “Het Zoute Uur” (The Salty Hour). Reception quality was pretty good (SIO 454) despite their 100 Watt and a distance of 72 kms to my QTH. My report was sent via the webform on their site.
KBC also broadcasts on shortwave to Europe, North America and Australia. Details can be found here.
I received Comodoro Rivadavia Radio with a DSC test acknowledgement to a vessel with MMSI 311000867 (SYLVIA EARLE, Bahamas). It’s the second time I sent them a report. I heard them earlier in December 2024. They confirmed they were sending a message at the time but my decode of the MMSI of the ship they contacted was incorrect. Despite the ERR check being OK. These things can happen sometimes. This time there was one other DX-er that picked up the same message using YADD decoder, so I was confident I really heard them!
The distance between my QTH and Comodoro Rivadavia is 12890 kilometers… and this is definitely not a DSC station that I hear as often as the ones from Brazil. My other confirmation from Argentina was Buenos Aires Radio.
During my holiday on Curacao I was able to receive ZBVI from Tortola, the largest island of the British Virgin Islands. A distance of about 840 km. Sandra Potter, Operations Manager at ZBVI was so kind to confirm my reception report. This QSL ZBVI Tortola, British Virgin Islands on 780 kHz is my 198th country confirmed!
The official call sign of the station in the FCC data base is ZBV, but the station identifies as ZBVI after the Virgin Islands. It is also not clear why this station has a FCC license in the USA and seems to have to adhere to US law (no tobacco commercials allowed). Anyone?
For my report to HJCL Radio Panamericana on 1140 kHz I received a polite thank you email via radiopanamericana1140@gmail.com .
Radio Panamericana broadcasts from Girardot in Colombia with 10 kW. I heard them on Curacao, which wasn’t easy as Radio Paisa and most likely Radio Esperanza from Colombia are also active on this frequency.
Following a lecture on the relation between food and digestive problems I clearly heard an ID: “Esta es Radio Panamericana HJCL”. Radio Panamericana is an affiliate of the bigger Blu Radio network from Bogota and as such broadcasts Blu Radio programs as well.
A QSL from HJLK Radio Calidad, broadcasting from Cali, Colombia on 1230 kHz. I heard this station during my holiday on Curacao.
Email QSL for Radio Calidad de Cali on 1230 kHz
Radio Calidad is a RCN (Radio Cadena Nacional) station. RCN operates a few networks or brands as I explained in an earlier post. La Cariñosa is the program with focus on popular music. It is being broadcast on mediumwave from 15 cities, but according to Wikipedia three of them also have their own local station ID and programs: Radio Calidad from Cali, Radio Santander from Bucaramanga and Radio Paisa from Medellin. And indeed I heard an ID like “Radio Calidad la Cariñosa… y con la vocacion de servicio”.
A QSL email from Radio Maria Colombia, broadcasting from Manizales on 1500 kHz. I sent my report to info.col@radiomaria.org . The reply came from programas.radiomaria@gmail.com which looks like a more generic email address, but it carried the Radio Maria Colombia logo.
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