In the Netherlands we just celebrated the arrival of Sinterklaas this weekend, a children’s party that culminates in a festive gifts evening on December 5. Only after December 5th we start preparing for Christmas.
However in Canada VOCM is already in the Christmas spirit. After the Aurora of the past few days, reception conditions seem to be recovering. So for those who want to get into the Christmas mood right now: tune in to VOCM 590, “your Merry Christmas station is back!”. Click on the link for a short YouTube clip.
Receiving Transatlantic medium wave stations is still one of the nicest aspects of the DX hobby. Rick Furniss, engineer at CFGO was so kind to QSL my reception of CFGO Ottawa, Canada, better known as “TSN 1200”. I heard them with a TSN network program, broadcasting the NFL game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Detroit Lions.
In his email Rick wrote that he receives more reports for the 50 kW sister station CFRA on 580 kHz, most likely because the antenna direction is more favorable for Europe. So that is another challenge for this winter. Rick also sent two nice pictures with comments which I’d like to share:
“The first is one of the Current Main Tx, a Nautel NX50 sitting beside our old backup Tx a Gates 10kW full tube unit. The Nautel is about 5 years old and the Gates is built in 1962 from a 1959 Gate Corp. drawing. It was removed from service after a small electrical fire in the power supply cabinet about 5 years ago but it worked great right up till then. We have not owned it from new but we did buy it from the station that did. We have it’s complete documentation and log books since the day it went on air, Truly a museum piece today. We also have a Nautel ND50 Tx not shown that is our current backup Tx for this site.” (Photo Rick Furniss)
“The second picture is of the 6 towers in the CFGO antenna array in south Ottawa. I was waiting to go into the site while a thunderstorm passed (It had taken us off the air with an Hydro failure) and I noticed the rainbow.”(Photo Rick Furniss)
A big “thank you” to Rick for the QSL and the nice pictures!
A postcard QSL confirming reception of NDB MIQ-426 Mike for Ingolstadt
It took 36 weeks, but worth waiting for: a real postcard QSL confirming my reception of NDB MIQ-426 “Mike for Ingolstadt”. I sent my report to DFS (Deutsche Flugsicherung) in Langen, Germany. The beacon is located south of Ingolstadt, and you can actually see it driving on highway A9 between München and Ingolstadt (east of the highway).
Not sure where the “for Ingolstadt” comes from. The beacon is close to Ingolstadt airport. But it is not aligned with the runways and serves as a high and low level enroute navigation beacon according to ourairports.com .
QSL from Radio Igloo and the West Coast DX Club, Sweden
Radio Igloo was on air last weekend (and I told you so!). This time from Europe (my previous QSL was for a reception via WRMI). On Saturday, November 11th, they were present on three frequencies via three different Free Radio stations. I managed to pick up the one on 4975 kHz, but only the first 30 minutes. Conditions were poor and I suffered a lot of QRN on my holiday location in Exloo, which didn’t help either.
A day later I heard them on 6375 kHz (which was the only frequency they used that day). Fortunately quality was much better this time, and I could listen to the entire show which featured a nice selection of music, mainly picked by participants on the Westcoast DX Club event that was held at the same time. They were together 25 km North East of Gothenburg, Sweden, with some nice antennas, including a 300 m long Beverage. You can see the expedition on the QSL – I’ve been on many DX weekends, but never one where the beds were directly behind the receiver 😉!
According to Shortwave DX blog, the 4975 kHz transmission was via Free Radio Akenzo, and the 6375 kHz via Radio Mexico. I sent my report to radioigloo@gmail.com.
I received an email to QSL Del Tracks (sometimes referred to as Deltracks) on 6270 kHz. Del Tracks is a Free Radio station from The Netherlands. I heard them last weekend with the slogan “Del Tracks, your Classic Rock Station! Do you remember where you were in 1984?” I sent my report to deltracks@outlook.com .
Last weekend I received Baken 16 (Dutch for Beacon 16) on 6385 kHz. This Free Radio station is named after the popular program “Baken 16” which was broadcast by Radio Mi Amigo on weekdays, lunch time, from August 1976 unit October 1978. The program was presented by Marc Jacobs. In 1979 the show featured on Radio Caroline for a few months (source: Radiopedia).
There is a nice nostalgic video on YouTube with fragments from the 500th Baken 16 show.
As a Free Radio station from The Netherlands the name Baken 16 lives on. The transmitter is a Rohde & Schwarz SK010 (100W) connected to an inverted V.
I received this e QSL from SAQ Grimeton, Sweden, for the reception of their UN-day transmission. The event took place on October 24th, at 15:00 UTC on the usual 17.2 kHz. I struggled to get a readable signal at my home QTH this time. So I used the Twente SDR as an alternative. Funny thing is that contrary to my expectations their previous transmission around noon mid summer resulted in a much better signal.
René L’Baum, PE0RL, sent me a comprehensive email to QSL my reception of Album AM on 846 kHz. Album AM is one of many LPAM stations that are active in The Netherlands. The station is located in Uden, 66 kilometer from my QTH.
Compared to a few other stations at comparable distance their signal is very strong, almost always better than SINPO44444 (in the evening hours there might be some interference from Irish pirate Radio North). That is so strong that I was wondering whether they started up a relay at Linschoten (only 3 km away) as Album AM bought the right to broadcast from this location/frequency as well. But if I understood René correctly that was not the case.
Contrary to some other LPAM stations who try to bring a program to a local audience, René is mainly interested in being received over the longest distance possible. So far René has received reception reports from 14 countries. Recently he organized a DX event, transmitting with a little offset to the 846 kHz frequency to avoid Radio North. The most distant report came from Murom, 300 km east of Moscow (2410 km). Listening from a car with simple receivers and a small (23 cm) loop antenna, the morse ID “Album AM” was picked up on the hour.
I think it is very well possible that René will organize future DX events, so suggest you monitor his website albumam.nl !
On Saturday, November 11, a new program from Radio Igloo will be broadcast.
The West Coast DX club will have a listening camp in a cabin in the woods north of Gothenburg next weekend.
The DX club and Radio Igloo will broadcast a program with our own favorite music. There will be a mix of many different styles of music. Our best program to date – at least we think so.
For the first time, the program will be broadcast simultaneously from three different transmitters, from different locations in Central Europe and on different frequencies.
It has become possible thanks to our radio-friends in Central Europe. It will be interesting to see how it will work.
The program will be broadcast on Saturday 11 November at 19–20 Central European Time (18–19 UTC) on 4945, 5840 and 6380 kHz.(or on a free frequency nearby).
The program will be rebroadcast the following day at 15-16 CET but then only on 6380 kHz
We appreciate reports on our program, preferably with an audio clip and with comments on the content of the program.
Correct reports will be answered with a new e-QSL. Send your reports to radioigloo@gmail.com
The English desk of Radio Romania was so kind to send me a QSL for my reception of Marosvásárhelyi Rádió on1323 kHz. And even seem to promise a real QSL, so let’s see… I heard them starting their daily transmission with interval signals on chimes or metallophone. This was followed by the Romanian National Anthem at 03:54 h UTC.
Marosvásárhelyi Rádió is a regional radio station broadcasting from Târgu Mureș, located on the river with the same name. Târgu Mureș means “Marketplace at the river Mureș”. The river is called Maros in Hungarian, and vásárhelyi is Hungarian for marketplace.
For a long time the city was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. All the people living there were Hungarian. But after the First World War the victors wanted to reduce the influence of the empire, and it was agreed that Târgu Mureș should be part of Romania. After WWII the policies of the communist regime under dictator Ceaușescu resulted in the Hungarian speaking population being reduced to a minority (just above 40% these days).
Marosvásárhelyi Rádió started in 1958 with a daily broadcast of 30 minutes in Romanian and 15 minutes in Hungarian. In 1985 all regional stations were prohibited by the communist regime. After the fall of Ceaușescu and his regime in 1989 transmissions were resumed and grew steadily to 15 hours a day. On 1323 kHz you usually hear Radio Marosvásárhelyi Rádió in Hungarian. Weekend days feature an hour of Radio Târgu Mureș Minoritate in the language of the Roma, and an hour Radio Neumarkt in German. By now you should be able to guess where the name Neumarkt comes from…
Email from RRI English Desk to confirm my reception of Marosvásárhelyi Rádió
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