Today I received a polite email to QSL my reception of Tianjin Coastal Radio on 8414.5 kHz. I sent my report to tianjinradio@163.com, and three hours later I received my reply. The call sign of Tianjin Radio is XSV.
Tianjin is the third largest port in the world, after Shanghai and Singapore. That said, I don’t see them in the DSC logs as often as for example Shanghai and Guangzhou Radio. The port is situated on the Haihe river. Tianjin has a population of 14 million.
Tianjin Coastal Radio Centre
By the way, last week I was away on a skiing holiday, but I kept my receivers on DSC watch. I also triggered remote logging on the YaDD decoder. The beauty is that I could see in Tirol what was being received via YaDDNet . So I already knew that I had received Tianjin before I got home… and DX Atlas confirmed it. Not all is bad in the modern age of DX-ing!
A rare opportunity to get a paper QSL from a main European broadcaster on shortwave: the NDR “Gruß an Bord” program. It is a special program that is being broadcast by the Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR) on Christmas Eve.
Paper QSL from NDR for their “Gruß an Bord” Christmas program
As they write on their website (where you can also listen back to the 2023 program):
This year “Greetings on Board” celebrates its 70th anniversary. The traditional NDR program was broadcast for the first time on Christmas Eve 1953. So that ships on the world’s oceans can receive the broadcast, NDR rents additional shortwave frequencies. The series is a bridge between seafarers who travel the world’s oceans and their relatives in Germany. The sailors send greetings home. Families and friends wish them a happy holiday at sea or in distant ports.
Apart from the paper QSL I really enjoyed this program for a number of reasons.
First of all this program was brought from the “Hamburger Duckdalben“. The Duckdalben is the International Seaman’s Mission in Hamburg. There is a lot to be told about the good work they do, please visit their site to learn more. They had a significant role during the Covid-19 episode. This had a huge impact on sailors as they couldn’t travel back home to their families for months, as was discussed in the program.
Celebrating it’s 70th anniversary, the design of the program takes you back to the old days. There was no satellite. Shortwave radio was the only way to connect sailors and their beloved ones at home. And I can’t say it better than the “Gruß an Bord” team does:
The emotional, melancholic but also happy messages from the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children of our sailors reflect the life that continues, at home and on board. And this connection between the two, this bridge between land and sea is needed – today just as much as it was 70 years ago!
I vividly remember how Radio Nederland had similar programs for Dutch people abroad when they were still active on shortwave!
Three transmitter sites, three countries verified on one QSL!
Another reason why I enjoyed this program is because my dad (who passed away two years ago) was an engineer – “machinist” – on merchant ships of the KNSM, The “Royal Dutch Shipping Company”. For my Dutch readers: it was also referred to as “Kleine Nietige Scheepjes Maatschappij” according to my dad. In the 50’s of the previous century he made many trips to the Caribbean and the Mediterranean seas, but also to Hamburg. The “Reeperbahn” was one of the first streets abroad that I heard about as a 6 year old kid. But it took me another 10 years to find out what the Reeperbahn was really all about 😜!
I understand that for many years this program was broadcast via Norddeich Radio, a former German coastal station. I have a QSL for one of their USB transmissions on MF, see below. These days NDR rents time with some of the few major transmitting stations that are still active on shortwave. My QSL was for Issoudun, Nauen and Tashkent. The latter one is nice. I do have QSLs from Uzbekistan from the past, but it is the first QSL from this country that I can add to this blog which I started after my return to the DX hobby.
1980s QSL of Norddeich Radio, a former coastal radio station in Germany
Let’s hope that they will continue this tradition, looking forward to their 71st program this year!
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.
This was my fourth attempt in the last 12 months and finally successful: QSL Hai Phong Radio 8414.5 kHz. They were broadcasting a DSC message to cargo ship “Ga Hong” on the South Chinese Sea. I sent my report to hphong_radio@vishipel.com.vn . It is only my 2nd QSL from Vietnam. The other one is from the Voice of Vietnam, years ago.
Successful on my 4th attempt: eQSL from Hai Phong Radio / XVG
Hai Phong Radio is probably the station from Vietnam that I receive most often. Ho Chi Minh Radio is another regular one. I received Nha Trang Radio once on 8 MHz. This station apparently doesn’t operate on higher frequencies. I sent reports to these latter two stations via regular mail, but never received a reply. So if someone has a good (email)address, feel free to put it in the comments.
As my antenna is usually directed WNW/ESE for Transatlantic MW DX I don’t receive them too often. But during last weekend I was busy chasing NDBs and had the antenna pointing North. In addition to Arkhangelsk Radio I had a nice reception of a NAVTEX message from Vardø Radio on 518 kHz. Within a day I had my QSL.
eQSL for Kystradio Nord
Vardø is located on the NE tip of Norway, 2430 kilometers away from my QTH. Together with Svalbard and Bodø Radio the station serves NAVAREA19, basically the waters around Svalbard/Spitsbergen. The stations are remotely operated from Bodø.
Vardø on the NE tip of Norway is 2340 km from my QTH.
With 25 kW Danko Radio on 1251 kHz you definitely need to listen LSB and pray that they don’t play overmodulated music. But JOY Radio, or CJYE from Oakville, Ontario, Canada ( between Toronto and Hamilton) can be received in The Netherlands.
“PPC” QSL card for CJYE 1250, Oakville, Ontario
For my reception report I got a friendly email from Hollie at the customer desk. It’s a small world, as she apparently grew up in Sherwood Park, near Edmonton, Alberta. For four years I lived in Sherwood Park with my family, so we had a bit of an email exchange about Sherwood Park memories. But despite a gentle reminder, the engineering team has not responded yet… I will make another attempt by “snail mail” using the above PPC.
CFQR 600 from Montreal, QC, Canada is a relatively new station that went live in 2017. My reception report was confirmed with an email that – including some spelling errors – I copied pasted in the “PPC format” I intend to use for email QSLs.
“PPC” based on email QSL for CFQR 600, Montreal, QC, Canada
I learned something new: this radio station is owned by a socalled “numbered company”, in this case “7954689 Canada Inc.”. Apparently you get a default number according to the Canadian Business Act if your business doesn’t have an established corporate identity. Meanwhile the business behind CFQR is know as the “TTP Company” with the letters TTP referring to the owners Tietolman, Tétrault and Pancholy. who also own CFNV 940.
A classic paper postcard QSL from 9AS Split Radio from Croatia on 518 kHz!
A classic QSL card for 9AS Split Radio on 518 kHz
Spllt Radio is 1312 kms away from my home location and pretty much a “regular” every night. Plovput is the private company responsible for maintenance and operation of this service. You can see the NAVTEX messages on the Plovput website.
Kudoos to Plovput for offering the QSL service, and yes, I have said it before, I do think hobbies like ours might help to gain interest with young people to undertake technical studies that are so needed to keep our society running! Well done people working at Plovput!
Alexis LeBlanc technician/producer at CFMB 1280 Montreal was so kind to confirm my reception report with an eQSL. CFMB is a multilingual broadcaster, and some say the call sign refers to that: “Canada’s First Multilingual Broadcaster”. On their website I counted 16 languages, and my reception was a program called “Horizons” brought by a Canadian Bulgarian newspaper, followed by a program with Arabic contemporary music.
eQSL from CFMB 1280, Montreal, Quebec
The station was originally broadcasting on 1410 kHz. The move in 1997 to 1280 kHz, a former French language frequency, was quite controversial. Some saw it as an attempt to prevent French language stations to take this frequency. Others considered it an attempt to promote a multicultural society preventing immersion in French language. Such things were and are still sensitive.
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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