The wonderful world of listening to the radio
e QSL from Radio Mexico 6285 kHz. A Free Radio station from North West Germany. I sent my report to Mexico1955 (at) web.de . Operator Georg has built the transmitter himself using circuit boards from Greece. The transmitter has an output of 350W (200 W PEP).
Within a day I received this e QSL for my reception report on an English program of AWR (Adventist World Radio) via Dushanbe, Tajikistan on 15515 kHz. I sent my report to qsl@awr.org. The QSL was sent via Hushmail, and in Microsoft Excel format. Only the two letters DB refer to the location in Dushanbe.
The transmitter site in Dushanbe is Dushanbe-Orzu to be exact. Voice of Tajik (on 7245 kHz) and Radio Free Asia are also using this site.
A very nice QSL letter from CROSS Jobourg on 2187.5 kHz. And radiating the French spirit, which makes it stand out. The station is located on the French coast of the Channel (the French hate it when you refer to it as the English Channel, and I agree), one of the busiest seaways in the world. And as a result it can be heard often.
I sent my report to jobourg@mrccfr.eu
Yes it is in! An email to QSL NDB PT-295 Skopje. My 190th radio country: North Macedonia! I sent my report to M-NAV, the company responsible for management and control of civilian air navigation in North Macedonia: info@mnavigation.mk .
The republic of North Macedonia declared independence from the Yugoslav Federation in 1991. But it took until 1993 before the country was recognized by the United Nations under the name “Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)”. Which turned it into a new “radio country”. I tried to get a QSL from Radio Skopje, a station operating a 1000 (!)kW transmitter on 810 kHz in those days. But where I was never successful prior to independence, I wasn’t succesful after. Once again “NDB DX-ing saved my day”!
The name “Macedonia” was disputed by Greece. They feared that the new republic would lay a claim on the Greek region of Macedonia. The fact that the Vergina Sun featured on the flag of the new republic did not help. Nationalists proposing to depict the “White Tower of Thessaloniki” on the new banknotes aggravated the issue. Fortunately, in 2019 the two countries settled their arguments by signing the Prespa Agreement. The formal name is now Republic of North Macedonia.
A bit awkward maybe is the fact that the EDXC still uses Macedonia to refer to the country with ITU code MKD.
A nice e-QSL from CROSS MED La Garde, France, on 2187.5 kHz. A station that can be heard regularly with DCS messages.
I have to admit that I’m still trying to establish the link between the new DSC stations and what I heard some 40 years ago. Coastal Radio stations like Bordeaux Arcachon, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Brest-le-Conquest and Grasse are gone. But the current CROSS stations are not their descendants. They are the successors of the French Navy stations that were easy to hear in CW in the 80-ies, not only from France, but from all over the world… resulting in nice QSLs from countries like Reunion, Tahiti, New Caledonia and French Guyana for example.
CROSS La Garde is one of 6 CROSS stations in France. The others are Jobourg, Gris-Nez, Étel, Corsen and Ajaccio. The latter, also known as CROSS Corse or “Aspretto” is a secondary station that heard less often. The community of La Garde is situated adjacent to Toulon, the most important French Navy harbor on the Mediterranean Sea (which also features in the movie “Napoleon” (2023))
As far as I know JRCC Piraeus, Greece, is not heard too often with DSC messages, but this week the station was heard a few times on 12 and 8 MHz with DSC messages. I sent my report to contact@yna.gov.gr . Within a day I received an email from the Duty Officer to QSL JRCC Piraeus on 12577 kHz.
As Gandalf said in the Lord of the Rings: “And so it begins…”
“Space Weather” warning on Cullercoats Radio 518 kHz, NAVTEX, this morning.
A quick update on my previous post on DSC and NAVTEX in Sweden. Following my QSL from JRCC Sweden I wrote an email to Stockholm Radio with a little query (and a reception report of Stockholm Radio on 2187.5 kHz).
Bjorne from Stockholm Radio was so kind to explain the current situation:
All transmission of weather and MSI (maritime safety information or navigational warnings) on MF are done by “Sweden Traffic” which is part of the Swedish Maritime Administration: Sjöfartsverket
All Emergency monitoring (GMDSS/DSC) is done by JRCC Sweden, located in Gothenburg. JRCC Sweden is also part of Swedish Maritime Administration: Sjöfartsverket. For this purpose JRCC Sweden has access to all Stockholm Radio facilities. I received my QSL for JRCC Sweden via jrcc@sjofartsverket.se
In addition to providing VHF telephone services Stockholm Radio (www.stockholmradio.se ) is only responsible for coastal weather transmissions on VHF during summertime (June 15th – September 15th according to their website).
Göteborg and Stockholm Radio can be received regularly on 2187.5 kHz with DSC messages. As I already had QSLs from the 80-ies for I didn’t bother to send a reception report and QSL request for these two stations. But then I saw a QSL from Artur at MaresmeDX for JRCC Sweden. And I wondered how they are actually organized these days.
Within an hour of sending my reception report for a reception of MMSI 002653000, Göteborg Radio on 2187.5 kHz to jrcc@sjofartsverket.se I got an answer:
So it seems that everything on MF is now under the jurisdiction of JRCC Sweden. The HF band isn’t covered anymore. And I guess that the name Stockholm Radio is used for VHF DSC watch and weather broadcasts: https://stockholmradio.se/ .
In the 80-ies you could listen to a couple of stations on MF. In addition to Göteborg (SAG) and Stockholm Radio (SDJ) I remember Karlskrona (SAA), Härnosand (SAH) and Tingstaede (Visby, SAE). The nice thing was that they had matching set of QSL cards. But although I heard all stations, I managed to get the QSLs for Göteborg and Stockholm Radio only…
Things are a bit slow as I didn’t spend too much time behind the radio the last couple of weeks. But there are still some QSLs from a year ago that I didn’t post yet, as I received them before I started this weblog. This QSL for Radio Eli, Estonia on 1035 kHz is one of those.
Radio Eli aims to bring the gospel to the countries of the post-Soviet space as they write on their website. They started in 2001 with a two hour Russian program of Tartu Family Radio via a 50 kW transmitter on 1035. In 2008 power increased to 100 kW. Since 2010 they are working together with Trans World Radio (TWR) and power increased to 200 kW, but this seems to be used for TWR and Radio Liberty transmission only. Using the loop antenna to block Radio Lyca from the UK on the same frequency they can be received quite well here in The Netherlands.
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