Category: United Kingdom (Page 1 of 3)

QSL from Radio Caroline North 648 kHz

April 6, 2026 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Radio Caroline North was live from the Ross Revenge with an Easter special. I received them broadcasting via the 648 kHz 4 kW transmitter in Orfordness, United Kingdom. Despite the fact that I’m now living further away from the sea the reception quality was excellent, even during the day.

My report sent to north(at)radiocaroline.co.uk was confirmed by Alan:

Hello Peter,

Thank you for your report which has reached me.
I can confirm that you have indeed received Radio Caroline North, live from the Ross Revenge, via 4G link, on 648Khz AM, April 4th 2026, at 14.31 hours.
I’m often in Harlingen in Friesland so am familiar with how strong the signal is on the east coast of the North Netherlands, so good to know you get a good signal in the East towards the border.
Hope you have enjoyed this weekends special programmes.

Regards,
Alan

Their next program from the Ross Revenge is scheduled for 9-10th May. More info on their website.

QSL Radio Argus 1440 kHz

April 1, 2026 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Radio Argus is a pirate station based in the UK, broadcasting on shortwave 48 meter band, but recently also heard testing on 1431 and 1440 kHz. I was made aware of this station by Henry Poelman via the Benelux DX Club Facebook group. I heard them in the night between Sunday and Monday, 01:00 and 04:38 h UTC (no trace of Radio Regional from Italy). The program consisted of rock music presented by a male ID. After 2 hours the program was repeated as I heard the same songs again. Signal strength was not great, SINPO 24332.

Bert Bridges sent me a brief “thank you” email, stating that my reception report was useful as they were testing on various frequencies. And invited me to suggest a song to be played on the radio.

I’m not an expert on British pirate stations, but sources on the internet state that the transmission on 1440 AM might come from the London area with 20-40 Watts of power.

QSL Radio Badger 6040 kHz

September 29, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A very nicely designed QSL card from Radio Badger. A Free Radio Station on 6040 kHz from the UK. I think I saw the card somewhere and really wanted to add this one to my collection!

Reception was far from perfect, but I was able to copy a few songs (Shazam helped me big time) and with some effort recorded this ID… “Radio Badger”

Radio Badger has a very nice (and a bit funny) website radiobadger.co.uk . Check it out! They announce 6070 kHz as a frequency which might imply that they occasionally use Channel 292. But I never saw them in the Channel 292 program schedule. No problem, the website also offers a live stream as well so you can listen to their excellent music selection in stereo quality. Of course we DX-ers prefer the real short wave sound!

QSL Weekend Music Radio 6325 kHz

August 9, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Not my first QSL of this station. I received one earlier in 2023. But there is no harm in sending an additional report to a station that keeps a tradition alive. I heard them during the Easter weekend. As last time the QSL was part of a lengthy PDF with lots of history… I sent my report to wmrscotland@mail.com and got a reply after 16 weeks. Hey, it’s a hobby after all, so things can take a bit of time.

A hand drawn QSL used in 1981. That’s when I ran my own Radio Arcadia pirate station and for a teenager the costs of printing a QSL card was quite something.

QSL BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 9575 kHz Ascension Island

June 23, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 1 Comment

Every year the BBC has a short program with family greetings to the staff of the British Antartic Survey. This year the program was aired for the 70th time. It’s a bit of a tradition as unlike 70 years ago the researchers have access to broadband internet enabling them to communicate with friends and family in the UK.

I heard them on 12065 kHz from Woofferton and on 9575 kHz from Ascension Island. A program with family greetings from the UK to the folks at South Georgia and Rothera Base. And with a brief message from King Charles as well. In the 90-ies I as able to receive these BAS stations on 9106 kHz, but I’m not sure whether they are still active on that frequency given modern communication tools.

Below the opening clip taken from the Woofferton broadcast as it was of better quality. The Ascension broadcast had a strange digital signal over it which almost seemed to originate from the station itself.

I sent a report to their eQSL service. Unfortunately it only returns random picture postcards without reception details. But fortunately mine was with a picture of Ascension Island facilities.

no detail eQSL from BBC World Service, for my report of the Antartic Midwinter Broadcast

BBC Radio nan Gàidheal 104.2 MHz

May 15, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Yesterday there were quite good tropospheric conditions toward the UK. On 104.2 MHz I heard a program in a language that I didn’t immediately recognize. It turned out to be BBC Radio nan Gàidheal broadcasting in Gaelic language.

By clicking on above picture or this link you can hear my YouTube clip with their station ID.

On 104.2 MHz BBC Radio nan Gàidheal is broadcasting from the Meldrum transmitting station, built in 1950 near the village of Oldmeldrum. 752 kilometers from my QTH. In lesser quality I also heard this station on 103.7 MHz from Forfar, a little bit more to the south.

The Meldrum Transmitting Station in Scotland

QSL LPAM Radio Redhill 1431 kHz

March 21, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 4 Comments

Radio Redhill is a Hospital Radio station broadcasting on 1431 kHz with 1 Watt only from East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, south of London, United Kingdom. That’s a distance of 360 kms.

I did hear Radio Redhill in the first two months of the year almost on a daily basis, around 04:00 – 06:00 h UTC. But never really strong, just not above the realitively high noise level at my location. Sometimes I could pick up “Redhill”. In the end I decided to wrote down two song titles I recognized, made a MP3 recording, and sent my report to: studio(at)radioredhill.co.uk. Three days later, Ian, station engineer sent me a kind email to confirm my report:

Hello Peter.

Thank you for your reception report.

I can confirm the music you identified was played at that time:

March 14th

04:42 The Carpenters – Goodbye to Love
…..
04:02 Buddy Holly – Peggy Sue

We transmit with 1 watt of power so it is always interesting to receive reception reports from all over Europe. Sweden and Norway are the furthest we have had reports from.

Thank you for your email.

Ian

Station Engineer.

Radio Redhill started in 1974. My guess is that it was a typical “radio by wire” station that you have or had at many hospitals. In 2000 AM broadcasts started, and since 2022 the station is active on 100.4 MHz. You can learn more about the history of this hospital radio station on their website.

QSL BBC Radio Cumbria 756 kHz

November 18, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Of the many BBC Local Radio stations which you could hear on MW there are only 6 left: Norfolk, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Derby, Guernsey and Cumbria. As soon as Radio Romania Actualitati shuts down at 22:00 UTC you can hear them with a local program. Later in the night they switch to a relay of BBC Radio 5 live.

Mr. Andy Stevenson, operations engineer at the BBC Technology group was so kind to confirm my report by email. He included a link to a site which shows the antennas in Carlisle: https://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1452

BBC Radio Cumbria transmitter site in Carlisle

QSL NDB CBL-380 Campbeltown

October 24, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Campbeltown is a small airport located on the tip of the Kintyre peninsula at the west coast of Scotland. Mr. Tom Harper from HIAL was so kind to confirm my reception report for NDB CBL for Campbeltown on 380 kHz.

Like so many other airports in the United Kingdom Campbeltown started as an Royal Airforce base. Since 1960 it served the US Marine Corps as the airport was used to guard the entrance to the Firth of Clyde where the US had stationed nuclear submarines. In 1995 the US Navy handed the airport back ending NATO operations. But this little aerodrome still features the longest runway of all airports in Scotland, with apparently only 2/3 off it leased to HIAL.

Email to QSL NDB CBL Campbeltown on 380 kHz

QSL NDB SBH-351 Sumburgh Head

October 23, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A friendly email from Sumburgh ATC to QSL my reception of the beacon SBH Sumburgh Head, 351 kHz on the Shetland Islands. Sumburgh is one of the bigger airports operated by HIAL with flights to various cities in the UK as well as Kirkwall on the Orkney Islands.

Chloe form Sumburgh ATC also sent a nice picture of the runway with the red and white box containing the NDB transmitter clearly visible.