"It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on" - Marilyn Monroe
The Key Channel Team informed us that they will be on air this weekend. See below for details:
Dear friends, it’s been 10 years since our first broadcast. Many things in our lives have changed, but we’ve always been in your company. We thought we’d celebrate with a special broadcast featuring some exciting news. New prestigious collaborations. We are sure that you will celebrate with us by listening to us in large numbers as always. Good listening !!
Jasmine.
It is always nice to receive Christmas wishes from stations you sent a report to. But it was very nice to get quite a few wishes from friends that I enjoy this hobby with. Thank you all for following my blog, and once again, all the best for 2026!
Below a selection of some of the e-cards I received, plus a very special email to start with:
To everyone who visits my blog… I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And of course a lot of good DX!
For me 2026 will be a year of change. We will be moving from the densely populated part of the Netherlands in the west, to one of the most rural parts of the country. And our house is under construction as you can see (I have to admit the big Christmas tree and the snow are AI).
Of course the new house will have a radio shack and facilities to connect to three antennas in the garden. On the picture above you can see the work in progress.
As we will move to a temporary house in the next few weeks I might have less time to spend behind the radio, resulting in fewer posts on this blog. It’s an investment in what hopefully will be a QTH with less QRM!
I don’t know what it is… there is so much to listen to on the internet, but receiving a station with music that isn’t mainstream via the airwaves… it is always a bonus. Via Channel 292 I listened to Kölsch in de Welt with a program dedicated to Kasalla. Kasalla is a popular German Kölschrock band from Cologne, formed in 2011, known for energetic hits like “Pirate” and “Stadt met K” that dominate carnival sessions. Their music blends rock with Cologne dialect lyrics, celebrating local pride and creating euphoric live atmospheres across Germany and beyond.
It fits the mission of Kölsch in die Welt: to spread the Cologne way of life, music, and culture far beyond the cathedral city. With energetic Kölsch rock hits and tours throughout Germany and Europe, they carry pride in Cologne, its dialect, and its traditions to the world. Whether at concerts or planned international performances, Kasalla brings the spirit of Carnival, Kölsch, and Cologne to a global audience.
Their address is hobby-radio-bonn@web.de . Please do tune in, and send your reports!
Since 2018 the Voice of Indonesia is back on shortwave. They are using frequencies in the 90 meter band (3325 kHz) from Palangkaraya on the island of Borneo and 60 meter band (4755 kHz) from Jakarta on this island of Java. A remarkable change of strategy as most broadcasters have left shortwave, and tropical band frequencies in particular.
According to Voice of Indonesia the reason is to promote Indonesian culture and government views, at relatively low costs and with the ability to reach areas where digital infrastructure is not as easily available as in other parts of the world.
Via voilisteners@gmail.com I received a personal email and a beaticul eQSL card for my reception of their program on 4755 kHz. I listened to their Spanish and German program which could be received in reasonable quality at 17:30 and 18:00 h UTC respectively. They even have a Dutch program which I will try to receive on 3325 kHz in the coming months.
My first QSL from the Voice of Indonesia is from February1989. See below.
In those days they were still broadcasting in the 25 and 19 meter band, and despite their 100 kW of power I don’t recall it being an easy catch. Funny thing is that in those days they didn’t have a broadcast in Dutch.
Even during summer (or maybe especially during summer) it pays out to monitor the medium wave. Last night offered very good conditions towards Brazil and Argentina, allowing me to log a few stations that I didn’t hear before.
On this Youtube video you will see my recording of the National Anthem played on Radio Buenos Aires 1350 kHz. With 11448 kilometers from my QTH a new personal record!
I noticed this special call sign PA25NATO a couple of time on SSTV 14230 kHz. Apparently it is in use to celebrate the upcoming NATO Summit in The Hague, The Netherlands.
It’s going to be quite the event security wise, right in one of the most densely populated areas of Europe, to the point that you think whether it wouldn’t have been wise to select a more convenient location. Good thing that I’m retired and don’t have to deal with all the road closures and resulting traffic jams in the coming weeks.
A few times per year the International Space Station (ISS) has an event in which they transmit SSTV messages in the amateur band. Between April 11th and 16th there was such an event, dedicated to “Humans in Space”. Note that April 12th, 1961 was the date of the first human space flight with Yuri Gagarin.
The frequency used was 145.800 MHz in the 2 meter amateur band, which is covered by my ICOM R8600 so I decided to give it a try. I used the AMSAT site to get information when the ISS was flying over. Each morning there were 5 passes, about 1.5 hr apart. During a pass the ISS would “theoretically” be in visible range for 6 to 10 minutes. As I didn’t have a 2 meter band antenna I just pointed my 5 elements 100 MHz Yagi (6 m elevation) westward to see what would happen.
On the first try I was lucky. The SSTV broadcasts were in FM and PD120 mode, which took me some time to sort out. Good thing that I made an SDR recording so I could leisurely experiment with fine tuning the decoding. Now each picture takes 2 minutes to send, followed by a pause of 2 minutes. And while the ISS is “theoretically” in sight for 6 to 10 minutes, the reality is that at my location I don’t have a free view from west to east. On the west there are houses and somewhat further away a 9 story apartment tower. But east is worse with a nearby 5 story apartment blocking my view. Combined with the directional properties of the antenna it meant that I never managed to have more than 2 minutes of good quality reception each pass. As you can see in the pictures below:
But good enough to upload my pictures to the ARISS website and apply for an award which was almost immediately returned (Tip: do check you spam email box, as that’s where my copy landed!).
Now the problem is that I don’t have a reliable source for upcoming ISS events. The ARISS website doesn’t always seem to mention them. I got my information form the AMSAT-UK website, which had links to various relevant pages. So suggest you follow them if you are interested to try for yourself.
Dear DX friends I got this tip for a broadcast from Key Channel Radio. This station has been on the air before. I have a source telling me that this one will come from St. Kitts and Nevis😁 … No matter what it is a nice DX goal!
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