The wonderful world of listening to the radio

Category: DSC (Page 1 of 5)

QSLs Rogaland and Bergen Radio 2187.5 kHz

One of the Norwegian coastal radio stations I heard often in CW during the 80-ies was Rogaland Radio. But I never managed to get a QSL from them. Today they frequently pop up in the DSC log for 2187.5 kHz. So I decided to send a report to Mr. Stian Tveit who is so kind to act as QSL manager at Kystradio Sor in Norway.

It turned out that I not only heard Rogaland Radio but also Bergen Radio… another one that was missing in my collection. Thank you Stian for the QSL!

QSL card from Kystradio Sor for the reception of the Rogaland and Bergen transmitters

QSL MRCC Constanta 16804.5 kHz

A QSL for MRCC Constanta, Romania, with a DSC message on 16804.5 kHz. Mr. Marius Roibu sent a fully detailed reply on my report to rna@rna.ro . The transmission was directed to the Italian ship “Valle di Granada” near the Brazilian coast on its way from Rio to Gibraltar.

MRCC Constanta was operated by “Radionav” company until 2020 when they went bankrupt. Today the Romanian Naval Authority is responsible.

QSL MRCC Klaipeda 12577 kHz

A QSL MRCC Klaipeda 12577 kHz. I sent a report to them earlier, but didn’t receive a reply. Today I saw that another DX-er was successful, so I dug up my latest reception of this station and tried again… guess what, an hour later a fully detailed eQSL was delivered to my inbox! I sent my report to mrcc@mil.lt

QSL Tallinn Radio 2187.5 kHz

A paper QSL from Tallinn Radio

A beautiful paper QSL card from Tallinn Radio 2187.5 kHz from Estonia. I received them with a DSC test message and sent my report to tallinnradio@riks.ee . It was my second attempt in trying to QSL them. The station is operated by Riigi Infokommunikatsiooni Sihtasutus (RIKS). This non-commercial entity provides communication services to public institutions and other state-budgeted institutions.

QSL Faversham Radio MNC 8414.5 kHz

Among the DSC stations Faversham Radio, call sign MNC, is something special. You have the major Coastal Radio Stations and Rescue Coordination Centres (JRCC or MRCC) and then there are a few maritime colleges and training institutes like MarTec in Skagen, NuTec in Bergen and Trondheim, and the Constanta Maritime University. Faversham Radio in Kent, United Kingdom is also a training facility but operated by volunteers. It is situated in Faversham along the Swale, a tidal channel in the Thames estuary.

Roger Taylor was so kind to confirm my reception of Faversham Radio. After serving as a radio officer at sea and then teaching Decca radar systems all over the world, he joined the Merchant Navy College at Greenhithe in Kent. After a stint at the National Sea School in Gravesend he and a few colleagues decided to become independent and start Snargate Radio as a training facility for GMDSS. They gave it call sign MNC, referring to the old college at Greenhithe. But also the first coastal radio station in the UK using an M (as in the old days of the Marconi Stations) rather than G in their call sign.

Later MNC was relocated to Faversham, and the name was changed accordingly. The station is entirely voluntary run by ex seafarers. The transmitter is a Sailor 5000 SSB kit because, as Roger explains, this is the only kit that allowed them to program an MMSI number starting with “00” indicating that it is a coastal radiostation. This is indeed something that is odd with stations like MarTec, NuTec, CMU or ANFR Donges: their MMSI is like that of a ship.

Faversham Radio is allowed to acknowledge DSC test calls. Making it the only HF maritime provision in the United Kingdom. In the beginning (2013-2015) the station was heavily used. But then a drop in requests was noted. Apparently due to the fact that the UK MCA had asked the entry in the ALRS (Admiralty List of Radio Signals) to be deleted. This has no been decided otherwise, but the use of Faversham Radio is still very low. Making it a rare catch.

Sealter Road along the Swale

QSL Bangkok Radio 2187.5 kHz


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)!

QSL ANFR SR Donges

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!

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