"It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on" - Marilyn Monroe
A real QSL card for Cyprus Radio 5BA on 8414.5 kHz. I heard this coastal station with a DSC message. It is nice that they still award QSL cards by mail. Forty years ago they were also reliable verifiers. I attached an old QSL letter from 1982 for a reception of a broadcast in A1 (Morse code).
There is always something special about receiving a station from an island. I was a huge fan of Dutch writer Boudewijn Buch who had a TV program in which he visited islands, met the people living there, and told stories about these islands. You might compare him with the likes of Paul Theroux. Unfortunately Boudewijn died much too young.
As posted earlier I received a QSL for the Kirkwall NDB on the Orkney Islands. I learned that Kirkwall is one of 11 airports operated by HIAL, Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. So I asked the kind lady at info@hial.co.uk if she would also consider forwarding my reception report of BBA (Benbecula) and SBH (Sumburgh) to the responsible operators.
David from Benbecula Airport was the first to reply. Thank you David! Another island I can add to my list… but also an island that I want to visit now I have reached the happy age of retirement. It’s high on my bucket list. David also added an overview of the radio navigation aids at Benbecula Airport (see below). Benbecula Airport started in 1936. It was a Royal Airforce Airport during WWII. From here it was home to aircraft carrying out patrols to protect shipping convoys on the Atlantic from German U-boats. After the war it became a civilian airport again, and today their are scheduled flights to Inverness, Glasgow and Stornoway.
Mr. Mattias Nilsson, flight safety coordinator, was so kind to QSL NDB VX-329 and JX-349 at Växjö Småland Airport, Sweden. The airport is located 830 km from my QTH in Woerden.
Yesterday I was cleaning up my email inbox and to my surprise I found an e-QSL that I forgot I had. Late 2021 I was thinking about what I wanted to do when I retired and I started to explore the radio bands a bit again. I soon found out that a lot had changed. With my JRC ND535 attached to a simple long wire for example, I struggled to hear anything because of high noise levels. So I tried the Twente WebSDR.
But not only the reception conditions had changed, the whole band use had changed as well. For many years 1008 kHz was a key frequency for Dutch national radio broadcasting. Initially from Lopik (only 15 kms from my QTH in Woerden) and later from Flevoland with a powerful 400 kW transmitter. In 2004 national radio left mediumwave, and the frequency went up for auction. Radio 10 – a commercial broadcaster – took over. From 2007 Groot Nieuws Radio, a radiostation with a religious backgrond, used the frequency until New Years Eve 2018.
Soon after the frequency was made available to LPAM stations. United AM from Neede started broadcasting on this frequency and as they are located close to Twente University and their WebSDR I was able to receive them very well. I decided to give it a try and sent a reception report. I got a nice e-QSL showing the huge antenna setup near a relatively small house.
But after 5 years United AM shut down as well… and like their big brother on New Years Eve. Their QSL is still my first QSL from the new Dutch LPAM scene!
From 23rd – 25th September I participated in another Coordinated Listening Event. This time the challenge was to try to log a beacon on each frequency between 275 and 425 kHz. So maximum 151 NDBs. In total I logged close to 380 beacons on 127 different frequencies.
Of course I try to get a couple of QSLs in return for this effort and like last time I decided to focus on Sweden (there is no way that I’m going to send out 380 reception reports!). The first QSL came in today from Borlänge Airport. NDB BL-421 is located 1132 km from my home QTH.
As long as I have been listening to shortwave radio there have been stations representing the opposition in countries where Freedom of Speech is an issue. Radio NUG is representing the National Unity Government of Myanmar. This government opposes the junta in Myanmar, and is recognized by the European Union as the legitimate government of Myanmar.
The NUG programs are being broadcast from Paochung , Taiwan in the Burmese language. Currently they are on the air on 11940 kHz, 14:00 – 14:30 h UTC, and 17790 kHz, 02:00 – 02:30 h UTC. Given propagation conditions the first frequency is your best bet in Europe. It is also where I got this QSL Radio NUG 11940 kHz for. At the Radio NUG site you can find a web form to submit your reception report which resulted in this computer generated QSL. Today the site also shows an email address for QSL cards: RadioNUG@MoCITMyanmar.org .
Earlier I received a special QSL Radio Taiwan International on 11995 kHz for a report on the German program. Normally this program is broadcast from Kostinbrod in Bulgaria, but in July it was also transmitted from Tamsui, Taiwan.
In August the French program was in the air from Tamsui, also on 11995 kHz. For reports on this transmission another special QSL Radio Taiwan International was awarded. And again via regular mail! Throughout the year you can listen to their French program via the powerful transmitters in Issoudun, France or Kostinbrod, Bulgaria.
Last weekend I participated in another Coordinated Listening Event organized by the NDB list community. I will report more about this in a future post. But the first QSL is already in: Mikko Kinnunen from the Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. (HIAL) was so kind to send an email to QSL NDB KW-395 Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland (United Kingdom). I sent my report to info@hial.co.uk .
Mikko was quite surprised by the distance covered (906 km). But as you can read in the email they have their own DX as well! On their VHF frequency they regularly receive Birmingham and Dusseldorf control tower. I guess this occurs during favourable tropospheric conditions.
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) is responsible for the management and operation of 11 regional airports serving some of the nation’s remotest communities: at Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Dundee, Inverness, Islay, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Sumburgh, Tiree and Wick John O’Groats
Browsing through my SSTV recordings on 14230 kHz I found this interesting call sign: EH3ARRL. The station was on air September 23rd, 11.41 h UTC. Checking the QRZ.com website I learned that the call sign EH3ARRL is owned by a group of amateur radio operators from Catalunya. EH3ARRL is advocating that Catalunya should be a separate DXCC country.
For those unfamiliar with the radio amateur jargon: ARRL is the American Radio Relay League, the national association for radio amateurs in the USA. DXCC stands for DX Century Club, an award for those operators who can confirm having worked stations from 100 countries. And of course the ARRL defines what counts as a country, and doesn’t. All over the world radio amateurs use the ARRL DXCC definition to determine how many countries they worked. By the way, as a DX-er I always used the EDXC country list, which is a bit different.
The EH3ARRL group argues that Catalunya, while being part of Spain, has its own government, own police and own telecommunications. And they have their own EA3 radio prefix. They quote examples like Scotland, England, Wales and various other territories and enclaves that are counted as a separate DXCC radio country, while they are also not an official state. If you agree with them you can sign their petition on the change.org website.
Later that afternoon I received the SSTV picture from EA3BIL, who happens to be one of the operators behind EH3ARRL.
There are a couple of NDBs listed for Rijeka Airport in Croatia. I got a kind email from Mr. Mario Birkic from Croatia Control to QSL NDB CRE-433 on the island Cres and KO-438 near Kovala.
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