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.
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 !
While busy processing IQ.wav recordings for CLE-297 of the NDB list group, I enjoyed listening to Radio Delta. Within a day I received this e- QSL Radio Delta, Elburg, The Netherlands, 6060 kHz.
Radio Delta is on the air weekends on 6060 and 12075 kHz. Check their website for the latest schedule. Not only their website is pretty nice, but they can also be very proud of their studio! Professional! On 6060 they featured a program “Radio Delta goes DX”, reading listeners reports from all over Europe. Their signal is certainly strong enough!
Yesterday I was cleaning up my email inbox and to my surprise I found an e-QSL that I forgot I had. Late 2021 I was thinking about what I wanted to do when I retired and I started to explore the radio bands a bit again. I soon found out that a lot had changed. With my JRC ND535 attached to a simple long wire for example, I struggled to hear anything because of high noise levels. So I tried the Twente WebSDR.
But not only the reception conditions had changed, the whole band use had changed as well. For many years 1008 kHz was a key frequency for Dutch national radio broadcasting. Initially from Lopik (only 15 kms from my QTH in Woerden) and later from Flevoland with a powerful 400 kW transmitter. In 2004 national radio left mediumwave, and the frequency went up for auction. Radio 10 – a commercial broadcaster – took over. From 2007 Groot Nieuws Radio, a radiostation with a religious backgrond, used the frequency until New Years Eve 2018.
e-QSL from United Am, Neede on 1008 kHz
Soon after the frequency was made available to LPAM stations. United AM from Neede started broadcasting on this frequency and as they are located close to Twente University and their WebSDR I was able to receive them very well. I decided to give it a try and sent a reception report. I got a nice e-QSL showing the huge antenna setup near a relatively small house.
But after 5 years United AM shut down as well… and like their big brother on New Years Eve. Their QSL is still my first QSL from the new Dutch LPAM scene!
I received this beautiful e QSL Radio 1224 Lunteren. With 100 Watts this is one of the many legal LPAM stations that are active in the Netherlands.
Lunteren is only 50 kilometers away from my home QTH. Compared to other LPAM stations reception in Woerden is worse than I would have expected. The city of Utrecht and the Utrechtse Heuvelrug (a slightly – 50 meters – elevated forest area) are in the reception path. My guess is that this plays a negative role.
Operator/owner Teun (who is also a licensed HAM: PA3GDL) writes that they are active for 4 years now. Programs are presented by a team of 12 DJs who work remotely (from their own home) for convenience. You can learn more about Radio 1224 on their website where you can also submit your reception report.
eQSL LPAM Radio 1224 from Lunteren, The Netherlands
Radio Piepzender (Peep-sender) is a station that can be heard in the 41 m band during the weekend. The station is also testing on various other bands, but as far as I know there is no regular schedule.
Email QSL from Radio Piepzender, 7405 kHz, Zwolle, The Netherlands
I got this email for my reception report of their transmission on 7405 kHz. As you can see power is 150 watts. The transmitters of Piepzender are quite impressive: robust Rohde and Schwarz.
Stationmanager Henri asked me to make it explicit that reception reports should go to radioqsl@hotmail.com. Other email addresses are not monitored anymore.
You can also get a paper QSL if you send 5 Euro to:
PO Box 2702 6949 ZG HERTEN The Netherlands
Impressive Rohde & Schwarz transmitters of Radio Piepzender, Zwolle
I received a QSL from Sublime FM 90.7 MHz, broadcasting from IJsselstein, The Netherlands. From September Sublime will no longer be received on FM.
After the allocation of FM frequencies to national and regional public radio there are 9 “packages” of frequencies left for commercial parties. These are sold via an auction mechanism. In the auction of last July “Mediahuis”, the company behind Sublime, gave up the Sublime frequencies. They were taken by newcomer Financial News Radio which acquired the rights until September 2035.
The fact that Sublime will disappear from FM (they will continue on DAB+ and internet streaming) made me send a QSL request to info@sublime.nl . Nowadays nobody at these networks knows what a QSL is, so I had to explain it a bit, after which I received a kind email from Audiohuis.
Email QSL Sublime FM 90.7 MHz (IJsselstein)
Frequencies of Sublime. From September onwards: Financial News Radio
I received this beautiful e QSL from station Witte Tornado (White Tornado) and Lady. A pirate station operating from Almelo, The Netherlands, on 1647 kHz. Operator Gerard informed me that they are on air every 2nd Sunday from 17:00 to 00:00 h local time.
If you want the email address, drop me a note via a comment on this mail.
QSL from Witte Tornado and Lady, a Dutch pirate station on 1647 kHz
When I returned to the hobby I learned that low power broadcasting on AM was legalized in the Netherlands. One of the first stations and QSLs I received was LPAM Radio Monique on 918 kHz. Once broadcasting as an offshore pirate from the famous radio ship “Ross Revenge” they now settled in Velsen-Noord. (Velsen-North is the part of Velsen north of the Noordzeekanaal – North Sea Channel – connecting Amsterdam to the North Sea – got it?)
With their antenna on top of an industrial building in Velsen, providing good grounding, they enjoy quite a big reception area despite their low power of only 100 W. Much to the frustration of other LPAM stations in The Netherlands using the same frequency. For us DX-ers the good news is that they issue a nice eQSL card witnessing their heritage. Send your reports to studio@radiomonique.am.
In April I received KL85 on 900 AM celebrating their 3rd anniversary. A little quiz was held during the show I was listening. “What is story behind the name of the station KL85?”. My answer was correct , it is Kortrijk – Leie and postal code 85. And today I received my prize: a beautiful book about the history of Radio Veronica. Find out more about KL85 and their cool programs on https://kl85.net/.
BDXC : SWL 2262 PRe VERON : NL 14228 If you want to get in touch, just leave a message on one of my posts. Please note that I don't publish email addresses of verifiers which are not part of the public domain. So if you don't see the QSL address, just leave a message and I'll get back to you.
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