Peter's DX Corner

"It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on" - Marilyn Monroe

Category: Canada (Page 2 of 3)

QSL CJYE 1250 “Joy Radio” Oakville, ON

January 29, 2024 / / 0 Comments

With 25 kW Danko Radio on 1251 kHz you definitely need to listen LSB and pray that they don’t play overmodulated music. But JOY Radio, or CJYE from Oakville, Ontario, Canada ( between Toronto and Hamilton) can be received in The Netherlands.

“PPC” QSL card for CJYE 1250, Oakville, Ontario

For my reception report I got a friendly email from Hollie at the customer desk. It’s a small world, as she apparently grew up in Sherwood Park, near Edmonton, Alberta. For four years I lived in Sherwood Park with my family, so we had a bit of an email exchange about Sherwood Park memories. But despite a gentle reminder, the engineering team has not responded yet… I will make another attempt by “snail mail” using the above PPC.

QSL CFQR 600 Montreal QC

January 27, 2024 / / 0 Comments

CFQR 600 from Montreal, QC, Canada is a relatively new station that went live in 2017. My reception report was confirmed with an email that – including some spelling errors – I copied pasted in the “PPC format” I intend to use for email QSLs.

“PPC” based on email QSL for CFQR 600, Montreal, QC, Canada

I learned something new: this radio station is owned by a socalled “numbered company”, in this case “7954689 Canada Inc.”. Apparently you get a default number according to the Canadian Business Act if your business doesn’t have an established corporate identity. Meanwhile the business behind CFQR is know as the “TTP Company” with the letters TTP referring to the owners Tietolman, Tétrault and Pancholy. who also own CFNV 940.

QSL CFMB 1280 Montreal

January 24, 2024 / / 1 Comment

Alexis LeBlanc technician/producer at CFMB 1280 Montreal was so kind to confirm my reception report with an eQSL. CFMB is a multilingual broadcaster, and some say the call sign refers to that: “Canada’s First Multilingual Broadcaster”. On their website I counted 16 languages, and my reception was a program called “Horizons” brought by a Canadian Bulgarian newspaper, followed by a program with Arabic contemporary music.

eQSL from CFMB 1280, Montreal, Quebec

The station was originally broadcasting on 1410 kHz. The move in 1997 to 1280 kHz, a former French language frequency, was quite controversial. Some saw it as an attempt to prevent French language stations to take this frequency. Others considered it an attempt to promote a multicultural society preventing immersion in French language. Such things were and are still sensitive.

QSL CFRA 580 Ottawa

January 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments

When he sent my QSL for CFGO “TSN 1200” in November last year, Rick Furniss, station engineer, wrote that their sister station CFRA 580 Ottawa should be an easier catch. Main reason is that the antenna direction is a bit more favorable for Europe.

Well, it turned out to be a bit of an effort. On 576 kHz Bulgarian National Radio is present with 270 kW. What is worse, they are exactly on the back of my loop antenna, so that doesn’t help. Radio Nacional Espana is present with powerful transmitters on 576 and 585. They are more on the “null” of the antenna, but use a close to 10 kHz bandwith if you ask me. If any of these stations plays music 580 is done for. And finally, propagation conditions in December were not that good…

CFRA 580 Ottawa antenna at sunset (photo Rick Furniss)

But this week I managed to pick up CFRA 580 in audible quality, with commercials for Ottawa and Ontario. Within a day I had my QSL from Rick. He told me they were operating on 30 kW (night). I also got a photo of the CFRA antennas at sunset made when Rick was inspecting newly installed tower flashers. And a photo of the studio that morning with Patrica Boal at the mic for her show “Ottawa at work” with producer Cory in the back.

CFRA studio when my QSL was sent: Patricia Boal at the mic for her show “Ottawa at Work”

As far as Rick knows I’m the only DX-er that now has both CFGO and CFRA from Ottawa confirmed. To be honest, that would surpise me, but thanks to Rick for the QSLs!

QSL CKDO 1580 Oshawa ON

December 28, 2023 / / 5 Comments

Personally I still struggle a bit with the use of random KiwiSDRs to collect QSLs. But propagation conditions are poor these days. On top of that all the festive lighting doesn’t help the noise level. And the KiwiSDR I used is owned by the Medium Wave Circle I recently joined. Located in Scotland it still counts as Transatlantic DX. Plenty of excuses 😀…

On 1580 kHz I received CKDO from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. I happened to tune in to a program presented by Gary Berarde, who is also music director at CKDO. So I decided to sent Gary an email. He was so kind to answer in a few days and says that they welcome DX reports!

e QSL from CDKDO 1580 AM, from Oshawa, Ontario

CKDO is a 10 kW station located in Oshawa, just east of Toronto, at Lake Ontario. The station is owned by Durham Radio Inc., and not broadcasting from nearby Durham but from Oshawa. It targets the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area with classic hits and oldies.

QSL Iqaluit Coast Guard Radio 12577 kHz

November 21, 2023 / / 1 Comment
QSL Iqaluit Coast Guard Radio, Canada
e-QSL from Iqaluit Coast Guard Radio, Canada

For my reception of a DSC message I received this beautiful QSL for Iqaluit Coast Guard Radio on 12577 kHz. I sent my report to: IQANORDREG@innav.gc.ca .

The duty officer apologized for taking so long to reply (about 5 months) but they had a very busy season. Of course that’s no problem at all and I’m grateful for the service they provide to us listeners. They also wrote that they enjoy receiving letters from all around the world!

As far as I know all DSC communications on shortwave (4 MHz and higher) are coordinated via Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut in Canada. The station in Prince Rupert seems to be the only exception to the rule. I’m not sure what the status of the Canadian mediumwave Coast Guard stations is these days. In the 80-ies and 90-ies I could regularly hear them in SSB on 2182 kHz. But I don’t see any of them listed with DSC. So my guess is that, like their counterparts in the USA, distress calls are no longer monitored on medium wave.

VOCM: “Your Merry Christmas Station is back!”

November 20, 2023 / / 0 Comments

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.

QSL CFGO Ottawa “TSN 1200”

November 19, 2023 / / 2 Comments

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!

QSL CBI Sydney 1140 kHz

September 16, 2023 / / 0 Comments

UPDATE!: Earlier I wrote about my recently received QSL for my reception of CBI Sydney on 1140 kHz. In addition to my email (not knowing if it would be answered) I also filled in a web form on the CBC site. Pat from CBC Client Services was so kind to return a detailed email confirming my reception.

I got quite a bit of information about the program I listened to. It was called “Unreserved”. It is a platform for the voice of the indigenous voices of the people in Canada. That also explained why the nice music I listened to was not the usual country or “middle-of-the road” style.

Pat explained that QSL cards were sent in the past. An example from CBW Manitoba 990 kHz was attached. While thanking Pat for taking the time to provide all this nice feedback I also suggested the use of an e-QSL card. It would have taken less time! We DX-ers are usually not part of the target audience of the stations we receive. But I do believe it is important that, as a community, radio stations make a little investment to connect with listeners that tune in to the radio from a more technical perspective. Even if it was only to interest talent for technical careers in support of their stations.

Email QSL from CBC
No, not a QSL for CBW Manitoba, but an example from “the old days”

QSL CBI Sydney 1140 kHz

September 5, 2023 / / 3 Comments

Let me start with saying that receiving stations from Canada is always special for me. I lived 4 years in Edmonton, Alberta with my family. My (then 8 year old) son learned to play hockey in those years and is still playing hockey (I always have to say “ice hockey” back in Europe 😉) and my wife became a hockey-mum and is still watching NHL plays of the Edmonton Oilers at night. #97 Connor McDavid is our hero! So I really liked listening to CBI with the CBC One program from Sydney on 1140 kHz.

Better enjoy it while it lasts as they are planning to move to “FM only”. Fortuntaely, as FM coverage is a concern they are still in the air on 1140 kHz. Good for us DX-ers! I have to admit that when we lived in Canada we relied heavily on satellite radio services like Sirius XM given the distances we traveled through sparsely populated areas.

As CBI is one of the trans-Atlantic stations that are easier to receive I was surprised to find out that I did not have a QSL in my possession from my early days as a DX-er. So I was very pleased that Meredith Dellandrea replied to my email to confirm my reception report.

Email QSL for CBC One/Nova Scotia on 1140 kHz
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