The wonderful world of listening to the radio
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 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.
Just in:
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.
For the reception of the Yule Marathon on December 25th I received this QSL from RNEI (Radio Northern Europe International) & friends. The broadcast came from the 125 kW transmitter in Woofferton, United Kingdom.
I sent a report to Radio Carpathia via radiocarpathia@gmail.com for their part of the program. A separate report was sent to RNEI as well, but I understand from their own website that they are at least 1 year behind in answering reports.
The 125 kW should have guaranteed excellent reception quality. Unfortunately the frequency planners at Woofferton had not foreseen that Radio Piepzender, a low power station from Zwolle, The Netherlands, would also use this frequency on a Monday (normally they are only active in the weekend). They were relaying Radio Experience. Shortly before the broadcast an email request was sent asking them to move to 6185 kHz. But that was not honored. And so the RNEI transmission was partly ruined by interference.
It is remarkable that Piepzender with their advertised 150 Watt could produce interference with a 125 kW station as far as Italy and Ukraine, so maybe their power output is a bit higher.
This is the final post of this year… see you back in 2024!
As Gandalf said in the Lord of the Rings: “And so it begins…”
“Space Weather” warning on Cullercoats Radio 518 kHz, NAVTEX, this morning.
A special e- QSL for Woofferton Transmitting Station on 17785 kHz. Encompass Digital Media is the owner of this transmitting station at Woofferton, United Kingdom. Formerly owned by the BBC it was handed over to Encompass in 1997 as a part of the privatization of the World Service distribution and transmission.
On October 17th, Encompass brought a special program celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Woofferton Station. The program featured various personal stories of people that are working or had worked on the station. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as having been an operational manager myself (albeit in a different line of business) I can really appreciate how a team can be proud of running a complex technical facility together.
(Thanks to Franz Bleeker for bringing this broadcast to my attention!)
October 17, 2023: Anniversary broadcast 80 years of Woofferton
(via Biener’s DX Digest, thanks to a tip from Franz Bleeker)
The Woofferton shortwave station will celebrate its 80th birthday on October 17, 2023. The Mayor of Leominster and the Deputy Mayor of Ludlow will join other dignitaries at a special event in Woofferton to mark the occasion. The transmitter facility was built by the BBC during the Second World War to accommodate additional shortwave transmitters. When the station officially began broadcasting on October 17, 1943, it had six 50 kW RCA transmitters, acquired through a loan-lease agreement. The station has been modernized several times over the years and is now DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) capable and offers daily digital radio programs.
There will be a special program on shortwave (and other platforms) for the birthday on October 17, 2023: 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. UTC:
The program details the history of the broadcasting facility, which was used not only for the BBC and then the Voice of America, but for numerous other foreign services. Station employees will have their say about the history and present of the broadcasting system. QSL hunters can apply for an E-QSL by submitting meaningful reception reports to radio @ encompass.tv. There is even a raffle. (Dave Porter via Alan Pennington/Wolfgang Büschel)
There is always something special about receiving a station from an island. I was a huge fan of Dutch writer Boudewijn Buch who had a TV program in which he visited islands, met the people living there, and told stories about these islands. You might compare him with the likes of Paul Theroux. Unfortunately Boudewijn died much too young.
As posted earlier I received a QSL for the Kirkwall NDB on the Orkney Islands. I learned that Kirkwall is one of 11 airports operated by HIAL, Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. So I asked the kind lady at info@hial.co.uk if she would also consider forwarding my reception report of BBA (Benbecula) and SBH (Sumburgh) to the responsible operators.
David from Benbecula Airport was the first to reply. Thank you David! Another island I can add to my list… but also an island that I want to visit now I have reached the happy age of retirement. It’s high on my bucket list. David also added an overview of the radio navigation aids at Benbecula Airport (see below). Benbecula Airport started in 1936. It was a Royal Airforce Airport during WWII. From here it was home to aircraft carrying out patrols to protect shipping convoys on the Atlantic from German U-boats. After the war it became a civilian airport again, and today their are scheduled flights to Inverness, Glasgow and Stornoway.
Last weekend I participated in another Coordinated Listening Event organized by the NDB list community. I will report more about this in a future post. But the first QSL is already in: Mikko Kinnunen from the Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. (HIAL) was so kind to send an email to QSL NDB KW-395 Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland (United Kingdom). I sent my report to info@hial.co.uk .
Mikko was quite surprised by the distance covered (906 km). But as you can read in the email they have their own DX as well! On their VHF frequency they regularly receive Birmingham and Dusseldorf control tower. I guess this occurs during favourable tropospheric conditions.
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) is responsible for the management and operation of 11 regional airports serving some of the nation’s remotest communities: at Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Dundee, Inverness, Islay, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Sumburgh, Tiree and Wick John O’Groats
© 2025 Peter's DX Corner
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑