The wonderful world of listening to the radio
Because of its interesting mix of music, featuring French chansons, I like to listen to Atlantic 2000 via Channel 292 in Germany. This is the e-QSL for their program last week. In my garden I enjoy similar cherry blossom as on the QSL. The temperatures are however lagging… it is windy and too cold for the time of year.
An e QSL for Texas Radio Shortwave via Channel 292, Rohrbach, Germany. TRS ran two test programs last weekend Channel 292. On Saturday I heard them with a relatively weak signal on 6070 kHz, 9 h UTC. On Sunday significantly better on 9670 kHz, 10 h UTC. I sent my report to Texasradioshortwave@protonmail.com .
During the test program they were playing different versions of “The Yellow Rose of Texas” song. The song is from around 1850. The singer tells about his love for a “yellow girl”, a term that in those days was used to describe a light-skinned girl of mixed black and white ancestry. Later the lyrics were changed from “yellow girl” to “yellow rose”.
There is a story that the song refers to Emily D. West, whose statue you see on the e QSL card. Working as a servant in Texas she was kidnapped by the Mexican Cavalry and forced to travel with the forces of General Antonio López de Santa Anna. In the battle of San Jacinto the Mexicans were defeated in 18 minutes by the Texan Army led by General Sam Houston. It is said that the Mexicans were caught unprepared as Santa Anna was in bed with West.
From the Isle of Music is a new program on Radio Channel 292. I like listening to Channel 292 and its programs in the weekend while doing some admin tasks. As such I ran into this lovely program with music from Cuba. I sent my report to: tilfordproductions@gmail.com . Their facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/fromtheisleofmusic/
The station announced that they will be on air next week as well:
Next week, my world music program, Uncle BIll’s Melting Pot, will be on same times and frequencies plus a test simulcast from 1900-2000 on 3955 kHz.
Radio Marabu celebrates its 40th birthday this year. The station started as early as 1984. I received a classic QSL of Radio Marabu for their broadcast on Channel 292, Rohrbach, Germany. Their QSL is printed on a beautiful shiny silver card.
As I said, Radio Marabu exists 40 year. It started as an independent non-commercial platform for an alternative music selection. Music that you typically won’t hear on today’s FM band. Personally I really enjoy listening to their web stream when I’m doing stuff like writing reception reports or working on my blog.
You can find Radio Marabu on www.radiomarabu.de.
The Sveriges DX Förbund, SDXF (or Swedish DX Assocation) can be heard with a program via Channel 292. December 26th I heard them on 9670 kHz with a special Christmas edition. Unfortunately the program was mainly in Swedish, with a few minutes in German language only. Reception report should be sent to qsl@sdxf.se. QSL manager Gert Nilsson sent me an email confirming that my report was received, and a few weeks later I received their nice QSL card by mail.
Not sure when they are on the air again (they had a show on World Radio Day yesterday), so please check the websites of SDXF or Channel 292 for more information.
A rare opportunity to get a paper QSL from a main European broadcaster on shortwave: the NDR “Gruß an Bord” program. It is a special program that is being broadcast by the Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR) on Christmas Eve.
As they write on their website (where you can also listen back to the 2023 program):
This year “Greetings on Board” celebrates its 70th anniversary. The traditional NDR program was broadcast for the first time on Christmas Eve 1953. So that ships on the world’s oceans can receive the broadcast, NDR rents additional shortwave frequencies.
The series is a bridge between seafarers who travel the world’s oceans and their relatives in Germany. The sailors send greetings home. Families and friends wish them a happy holiday at sea or in distant ports.
Apart from the paper QSL I really enjoyed this program for a number of reasons.
First of all this program was brought from the “Hamburger Duckdalben“. The Duckdalben is the International Seaman’s Mission in Hamburg. There is a lot to be told about the good work they do, please visit their site to learn more. They had a significant role during the Covid-19 episode. This had a huge impact on sailors as they couldn’t travel back home to their families for months, as was discussed in the program.
Celebrating it’s 70th anniversary, the design of the program takes you back to the old days. There was no satellite. Shortwave radio was the only way to connect sailors and their beloved ones at home. And I can’t say it better than the “Gruß an Bord” team does:
The emotional, melancholic but also happy messages from the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children of our sailors reflect the life that continues, at home and on board. And this connection between the two, this bridge between land and sea is needed – today just as much as it was 70 years ago!
I vividly remember how Radio Nederland had similar programs for Dutch people abroad when they were still active on shortwave!
Another reason why I enjoyed this program is because my dad (who passed away two years ago) was an engineer – “machinist” – on merchant ships of the KNSM, The “Royal Dutch Shipping Company”. For my Dutch readers: it was also referred to as “Kleine Nietige Scheepjes Maatschappij” according to my dad. In the 50’s of the previous century he made many trips to the Caribbean and the Mediterranean seas, but also to Hamburg. The “Reeperbahn” was one of the first streets abroad that I heard about as a 6 year old kid. But it took me another 10 years to find out what the Reeperbahn was really all about 😜!
I understand that for many years this program was broadcast via Norddeich Radio, a former German coastal station. I have a QSL for one of their USB transmissions on MF, see below.
These days NDR rents time with some of the few major transmitting stations that are still active on shortwave. My QSL was for Issoudun, Nauen and Tashkent. The latter one is nice. I do have QSLs from Uzbekistan from the past, but it is the first QSL from this country that I can add to this blog which I started after my return to the DX hobby.
Let’s hope that they will continue this tradition, looking forward to their 71st program this year!
Gary Gordon is a former Radio Atlantis DJ who now presents four two hour shows every week. On Saturday mornings the show can also be heard on Channel 292, both on 6070 and 9670 kHz.
Nothing beats getting a real QSL card in your mailbox. Ideally with nice stamps on it. So getting two QSLs from Radio Carpathia made me very happy yesterday. Thank you Luca!
The first QSL was for the reception of a “regular” Radio Carpathia program via Channel 292.
The second QSL was for the reception of the Christmas special via Woofferton together with RNEI, Gwendoline Street and DK radio.
Radio Carpathia makes nice programs featuring a selection of contemporary music from East Europe. They are being broadcast via WRMI and Channel 292.
Around the Christmas weekend there were quite a few producers who had their programs aired via stations like Channel 292 or for example Woofferton. I got his nice QSL from ABC Germany, via Channel 292 on 9670 kHz. I sent my report to detvanrijn@gmx.net .
The QSL was accompanied with a long detailed email in Dutch from Detlev Reiermann, who was on the air with his DJ name “Det van Rijn”. Detlev grew up in Gronau, close to the border with The Netherlands, close to Enschede – a Free Radio hotspot in those days. As a teenager he worked as DJ in discotheques and hospital radio. And in this capacity he was asked in 1977 to produce a show for a local (Free Radio – I guess) – station. That show was called “ABC Germany”.
Detlev turned his hobby into his profession and worked as sound/video engineer for WDR and as assistant technical director for Deutschlandfunk. When he retired he decided to revive ABC Germany as a hobby. The show is presented in English, German and Dutch.
The next special ABC Germany program is scheduled for next Sunday, December 31st, from 13-15 h CET on 9670 kHz. Regular broadcasts as indicated on the QSL card.
Radio Carpathia is a program with music from Eastern Europe via Channel 292. For each broadcast 2 “paper” QSLs are awarded. The program maker Luca Trifan promised that as soon as the postal services restart in January (apparently they have days off in Romania) I will get a QSL by regular mail… so I guess I was lucky: let’s see! Address: radiocarpathia@gmail.com
Luca also made me aware of the upcoming programs:
I invite you to tune in to the 125 kW Yule Marathon by RNEI & Friends on Monday, 25.12.2023 between 1400-1700 UTC on 5940 kHz from Woofferton, with the following schedule:
I broadcast on the third Sunday of every month at 1200 CET on 9670 kHz with a directional booster at azimuth 307.
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