Recently I received Bangkok Radio on 2187.5 kHz. With 9225 kilometer this is by far my most distant maritime reception on MF. Unfortunately I couldn’t find an email address, until Néstor Damián Fischetto provided me with one. Within a few days I received a fully detailed email from YvesZor, radio operator at the station:
Dear Peter Reuderink,
Thank you for your email and for sharing your reception report of Bangkok Radio. We are delighted to hear that you were able to receive our station on 2 MHz, especially considering the distance of over 9225 kilometres. It’s always gratifying to know that our signals are reaching listeners around the world.
We confirm your reception of Bangkok Radio on 2187.5 kHz on February 27th, 2024, at 20:28 h UTC. Your dedication to the hobby of radio reception for over four decades is admirable, and we are honoured to be a part of your listening experience.
Should you have any further questions or if there’s anything else we can assist you with, please feel free to reach out to us.
Thank you once again for reaching out to Bangkok Radio. We value your support and interest in our broadcasts.
Warm regards,
YvesZor [YZ] Radio Operator Bangkok Radio
Big thanks to Nestor (and Rob IZ0CDM, who provided similar address info a few days later)!
I did not get my PPC signed, but I did get an email to QSL CFAJ 1220 St. Catherines ON, Canada. I sent my report to info@classic1220.ca.
1220 kHz is a good frequency for listening to Transatlantic MW stations, nicely in between European 1215 and 1224 kHz. That said, despite their 10 kW of power it is still not so easy to hear CFAJ. Their antenna pattern, using a nine (!) tower array, is tuned to a for Europe unfavorable NW/SE direction. This is done to reduce interference with neighboring US transmitter WHKW Cleveland. And exactly that station is the one that is heard more often Europe.
Praveen Amirtharaj, who answered my reception report, talks about “our new station”. And it is true, this station went on-air in 2020 with the call sign CFAJ. Since 1967 a station with callsign CHSC was active on this frequency, but their license was terminated in 2010 as the authorities (CRTC) concluded following format violations, physical deterioration and financial issues the station would not be able to comply in future.
In 2015 a new application to use the facilities of CHSC was granted to a new organization that runs CFAJ since 2020 with a Classic Hits format.
A QSL for NDB MIA-292 in Melilla. As Melilla is a Spanish enclave on the North African coast it counts as a separate radio country, a new one for me. I chased for a week on this one. Made SDR recordings from sunset until sunrise of the 290-310 kHz band, in 1 hour segments. Next processed the recordings with Pskov. This resulted in 3 loggings of MIA, of which one was clearly identifiable and thus reportable. Unfortunately I did not obtain an good copy of NDB CEU-300 from Ceuta, which is also high on my wish list.
I sent my report to informacion@enaire.es, and as with earlier reception reports the confirmation email contained a datasheet but also a high quality photo of the antenna.
Received on my little Grundig G6 Aviator while spending some time with family in Akersloot: Backyard AM, a low power AM station from Zaandijk. Somehow I did not yet receive them on my home QTH in Woerden. My guess is that this is because they are active weekends only. More importantly: Danko Radio from Hungary might get in their way. That said, according to their schedule they are a little bit longer in the air on Sunday’s than Danko Radio (between 20 and 21 h UTC) so that could provide a window of opportunity.
Their beautiful QSL shows one of the most iconic views of the Netherlands, the “Zaanse Schans“, close their QTH Zaandijk.
Older DX-ers might remember that 1116 kHz was once the frequency of Radio Bloemendaal. This religious broadcaster was the first religious broadcaster in the Netherlands, and for a long time the only legal station other than the state radio company that was heard on medium wave. But I will dedicate another post to them!
European listeners to DSC/GMDSS messages on the various frequencies know that there are a few stations like Coruna Radio who are heard almost every hour, every day. And there are stations that you can only hear when propagation conditions are favorable: true DX. But there are also stations that are just not that often on the air. Martec Skagen is one of those, and this QSL ANFR Donges, the Agence Nationale des Fréquences is for another one.
ANFR is big organisation, and as decribed on Wikipedia their mission is:
“… ensuring the planning, management and control of the use, including private use, of the public domain of radio frequencies subject to the application of article L. 41 of the Postal and Commercial Code. electronic communications , as well as the skills of administrations and authorities allocating radio frequencies. Its budget is allocated to budgetary program 134 “Business and tourism development”, of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.”
By the way: one of the things they do is licensing radio amateurs. That said, I have no clue why this agency was contacting utility ship JIF Helios on 8 and 12 MHz near the Canary Islands.
I decided to give it a try and sent a report to ANFR Donges, Department Radiomaritime, 223 La Pommeraye, 4480 DONGES, France. I added the “Department Radiomaritime” hoping this would help to get the email on the proper desk. A week later I got a polite email back confirming my reception:
Email to QSL my reception of ANFR Donges on 8 and 12 MHz.
A scan of my reception report,with SR Donges stamp was also included. But no answer on my question what this transmission was all about…
If you do know what ANFR does with DSC transmissions… please leave a comment!
In October 2023 I (and some other DX-ers on YADDNet as well) received a DSC message from Svalbard Radio with MMSI 002570900 on 2182.7 kHz. This station MMSI is not received very often. And what I heard was an acknowledgement of a test message sent by the ferry Silja Serenade on its way between Mariehamn in Finland and Sweden on the Baltic Sea. So I wondered if I truly received Svalbard Radio.
I sent a reception report to Kystradio Nord in Bodø (kystradio.nord@telenor.no), as they remotely operate Svalbard Radio. But quite unusual for them I did not get an immediate answer. So I tried again last week. And with apologies (which is not necessary at all as they are just doing us DX-ers a favor on all of our requests) I got an email that QSL-ed my reception of Svalbard Radio.
Email confirming that I received the Svalbard transmitter of Telenor, Kystradio Nord
The email also explains why there was such a strange connect between a ferry on the Baltic and Svalbard Radio/ The test acknowledgements are fully automated on many (but not all) coast stations. So my guess is that the radio officer – who has to execute a mandatory weekly test – decided to go for something special… and triggered a response from the Svalbard transmitter?
This means that I have received a QSL from a station from mainland Svalbard/Spitsbergen for the first time. Not a new radio country though, as Bjornoya (Bear Island) which I received with NDBs LJS in the past and BJO last year is considered part of Svalbard according to the EDXC country list.
But where exactly is this station located on Svalbard? The first maritime station on Svalbard/Spitsbergen, Svalbard Radio was established in 1911. The location was Finneset, close to Barentszburg, the Russian settlement on Spitsbergen. But in 1930 the station was moved to Longyearbyen. And in 1975 the transmitters/antennas moved to Longyear – Svalbard Airport. Since 2006 the station is remotely controlled by Kystradio Nord in Bodø.
But that is not the location of the MF transmitters though. In 1932 two Soviet ships went aground. These were probably coal ships to Barentszburg. The Russian coal mining company Arktikugol developed an intiative to improve the navigational aids. It included the construction of a new station on Isfjorden in 1933. Once it was called Isfjord Radio, but since 1976 the station is remotely operated by above mentioned Svalbard Radio after completion of the Longyear – Svalbard Airport facilities. The Isfjord name seems no longer in use. Isfjorden is also the location from which Svalbard NAVTEX messages are being transmitted.
Isfjord Radio Station
Today the housing facilities of the radiostation in Isfjorden are exploited by Basecampexplorer to accommodate arctic tourists. So it is possible to make a visit!
Update: For my reception report to CJYE in January I got two friendly email repies from Hollie at the admin desk. But they didn’t really qualify as a QSL. So I tried it with the PPC format that I started to use this year. Paige Dent, director of engineering was so kind to sign and return the QSL to me.
PPC QSL from CJYE 1250 Oakville ON, Canada
CJYE 1250 “Joy Radio” brings Christian music and talk radio to the greater Toronto area. I sent my report to: 309 Church Street, Oakville, ON, L6J 1N9, Canada.
I received an email as QSL NDB PX-389 Perigueux-Bassillac, France. A big thank you to Juan Antonio Arranz who provided me the email address for this beacon. Unfortunately the beacon will be switched off in May this year as the team wrote in their email:
It’s always surprising to know that our PX beacon can be received from so far away! Not long ago we received the same message from Spain.
Indeed, unfortunately the beacon will be out of service from May 2024. The associated procedure can no longer be used. In France, Civil Aviation is reducing costs, particularly when it concerns small airfields. The Périgueux aerodrome has no longer had a regular service since June 2018.
We are managed by a joint union and account for around 15,000 movements per year: leisure and business aviation, organ transport and medical evacuations, military training, etc.
Our team is made up of 4 people: 2 agents at the control tower and 2 airport firefighters.
A fully detailed QSL letter from Malin Head Radio 518 kHz. Watch officer Mc Dermott was so kind to confirm my report within minutes. I sent my report to: mrsc.malin@transport.gov.ie . Its my second QSL from Malin Head Radio. The first one was from 31 years ago for a USB transmission on 2182/1677 kHz.
fully detailed e-QSL letter from Malin Head Radio on 518 kHz
Malin Head Coast Guard Radio has a nice facebook page posting their current activities. But I also found a “facebook legacy site” with some interesting information:
The station was opened in 1902 by the Marconi Marine Company on behalf of Lloyds. Located at the northernmost tip of Ireland, this station was ideally positioned to communicate with shipping coming across the Atlantic or from northern waters. But already in 1805 Lloyds had a signal station on this location.
Mailn Head Radio at the opening in 1902. The old signal tower on the right.
In 1988 the morse code services from Malin Head on 500 and 421 kHz were discontinued. That turned out to be a bit early. There was one instance where the station’s 500kHz automatic alarm receiver, which remained on watch, was activated by the signals of a sinking ship far out in the Atlantic. Malin Head Radio was the only station able to copy the weak signals from the ship’s lifeboat. With the station’s transmitters dismantled, return transmissions had to be made by her sister station Valentia Radio – not the most ideal means of conducting a distress situation.
Thanks to the team of Malin Head Radio for issuing QSL to us DX folks. And once again I learned something just by listening to the radio!
Not exactly DX from my location, but I am also a QSL collector and the Dutch Coastguard issues this nice QSL email. So here it is. I received my QSL Dutch Coastguard Den Helder 518 kHz for one of their NAVTEX transmissions.
e- QSL Dutch Coastguard Den Helder 518 kHz
The Dutch Coastguard has a nice website in English, but their history is best told on the site in Dutch (use Google to translate). Coastguard activities in the Netherlands started following a tragic incident with a Navy ship “Zr.Ms.Adder” in 1882. The ship sank near Scheveningen, but nobody noticed the ship was missing. Only when the first bodies washed ashore alarm bells went off. From 1882 onwards the crews on the lighthouses – which were already there as navigation aids – had to monitor traffic actively and had to report incidents.
Over the years 6 different departments in The Netherlands developed activities on the North Sea. Fishery, Traffic, Justice, Defense, Finance and Internal Affairs. In 1987 it was decided these departments had to work together from a central location in IJmuiden. I have a PPC QSL from 1993 indicating that in those days radio traffic was limited to emergency frequencies (2182 kHz and VHF) only. Telephony/telegraphy including weather and navigational warnings were broadcast via PCH Scheveningen Radio.
1993 QSL from Dutch Coastguard IJmuiden
In 1994 it was concluded that the cooperation between the 6 departments needed improvement. The Coastguard was established as an independent entity, with its operations coordinated under responsibility of the Royal Dutch Navy. As a consequence the Coastguard centre moved to Den Helder which is the main port of the Navy.
With more an more communication going via satellite Scheveningen Radio closed in 1998. My guess is that since then navigational warnings via NAVTEX were transferred to the Coastguard.
1980 QSL for Scheveningen Radio on 2182 kHz. Scheveningen Radio went off air in 1998.
BDXC : SWL 2262 PRe VERON : NL 14228 If you want to get in touch, just leave a message on one of my posts. Please note that I don't publish email addresses of verifiers which are not part of the public domain. So if you don't see the QSL address, just leave a message and I'll get back to you.
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