This morning I listened to Radio City via Channel 292 on 9670 and 6070 kHz. A nice mix of lesser known oldies, including some French songs that always give you that “summer feeling”. Within an hour I received the above QSL which gives some information about the format. The 2nd page of the QSL (not shown here) gave information about the music that was played.
The “Tower of Power!” logo on the QSL confirmed what I already suspected. The station is named after the offshore radio station. The original Radio City was active between 1964 and 1967 from the Shivering Sands Army fort in the Thames Estuary. These were the wild days of offshore radio in the UK, culminating in Radio City’s manager Reginald Calvert being killed by Oliver Smedley, former manager of offshore Radio Atlanta, in a violent row about a transmitter sale.
The original Radio City station was operating from Shivering Sands Army fort.
A QSL from Xenon Transmitting Company on 6205 kHz, broadcasting from England, United Kingdom. I sent my report to xtcshortwave@googlemail.com . As they write in their email:
XTC (full name the Xenon Transmitting Company) has been on the air since 1993. We like to talk about various subjects rather than just play music. XTC does not have a regular schedule, but we try to be on the air over the Bank Holidays, Easter and Christmas.
If you google ‘UK Free Radio Shortwave Memories from the 1990’s’ you will find a very good blog which has more information about XTC and other stations that were active during that decade.
One of the first things I discovered when I restarted the hobby almost 2 years ago is how easy it is to decode the various digital modes these days. I played with MultiPSK and received a weather fax from JOMOC Royal Navy Northwood on 2618.5 kHz. The quality was quite poor as I was still working with a simple indoor MLA30+ loop, which picked up a lot of noise. But the JOMOC ID was clearly visible:
Weather Fax from Royal Navy (pretty poor quality)
As I didn’t have an email address I sent my report by regular mail. One and a half year later I received a beautiful paper QSL card. And a letter apologizing for the delay. Well, it was worth waiting for:
Fully detailed “old school” QSL card from JOMOC RN Northwood
Apart from the long wait there was a complication in receiving this QSL. For some reason or another a customs declaration form was attached to the envelope. Indicating that the value of the contents was 10 GBP. And prior to delivery by PostNL I had to pay 8 Euros taxes and admin fee as the UK is no longer part of the EU. A complaint could only be filed after payment. Upon reception of the QSL I tried to file the complaint online. But PostNL forgot to properly register delivery in their systems so that didn’t work… In other words: basically I was taxed for something they were not even able to demonstrate that it was actually delivered😂 . The PostNL helpdesk explained that all I could do was send a letter to their head offices… in the end I got a 2.36 Euro refund… I left it at that…
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.
QSL for NDB SAY-431 from Stornoway signed by Peadar Smith, Air Traffic Controller. Peadar answered my reception report by email first and offered me to sign a PPC as well. And since I thought of starting using PPCs again I gladly accepted his offer:
PPC QSL for NDB SAY-431 Stornoway, Isle of Lewis.
Stornoway is situated on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, United Kingdom. The airfield was opened in 1937, primarily for military purposes. Today it is owned by HIAL and mainly used for domestic services.
My QSL is the 5th from a HIAL airport (Islay, Wick, Benbecula and Kirkwall other the other NDBs I received a QSL for). I sent my initial report to info@hial.co.uk. But you could also send your report to directly to Peader at the address below. Mind you: Peader is an avid stamp collector, so trust he will be very happy if you could add some stamps with your report!
Peadar Smith Air Traffic Controller Port Adhair Steòrnabhagh Highlands and Islands Airports Limited Stornoway Airport, Isle of Lewis, HS2 OBN United Kingdom
My 4th QSL from a HIAL airport! The other ones are Islay, Benbecula and Kirkwall. I sent my report of my reception of NDB WCK at 344 kHz, Wick, to info@hial.co.uk, and got a detailed letter plus a holiday brochure by regular mail from Neil Bramble, Senior Air Traffic Controller at Wick John O’Groats Airport.
posted by regular mail: QSL letter confirming reception of NDB WCK Wick/John O’Groats
Wick John O’Groats Airport is located in the northern tip of Scotland and hence the most northern airport of mainland United Kingdom. The only scheduled flights are by Eastern Airways to and from Aberdeen.
The Islay airport is one of 11 airports operated by HIAL (Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd.) in Scotland. I sent my reception report of NDB LAY-395 Islay to info@hial.co.uk . The QSL was by email from Laura at the Islay Admin desk.
Islay is the most southern island of the Inner-Hebrides. The island has close to 3500 residents and 9 (!) whisky distilleries. There is only one scheduled flight, twice a day, by Logan Air to and from Glasgow.
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 Radio Caroline North broadcast of 2024 is between 13th-14th January, live from our radio ship Ross Revenge.
You’ll hear some great music from the 60s to early 90s – plus a chance to win some goodies from our Web Shop, courtesy of Leslie Salter from Hull.
Listen on 648 AM across England, The Netherlands, Belgium and beyond, on 1368 AM in the North/North-West courtesy of our friends at Manx Radio, worldwide online here via our Caroline North Player, on smart speakers and the Radio Caroline app.
We’d love to hear from you during the broadcast via memories@radiocaroline.co.uk and remember, it’s the only email address that gets you straight through to our ‘North’ broadcasters.
A 21 (!) page PDF file served as a QSL from Weekend Music Radio 6295 kHz. Including a fully detailed QSL card, legacy QSL cards, and lots of background information and photo’s from Weekend Music Radio.
e QSL from Weekend Music Radio, Scotland
Not sure if this meets my “safety at work” standards…
Jack admits that the studio requires some cleaning and organizing
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.
Feel free to copy anything on this weblog. A link back to my site is appreciated.
