I received this e-QSL and a nice friendly email from Pop Shop Radio. I heard their programme on 5950 kHz via WRMI, Okeechobee, FL, USA. Pop Shop Radio is a program made in Hope, British Columbia, Canada. Having lived in Alberta, Canada for 4 years such a Canadian QSL is always special. And yes, I have driven through hope on a trip to Vancouver. No suprise, because as Tony from Pop Shop Radio wrote: all 4 highways to Vancouver pass through Hope.
Check this link for their latest schedule. The schedules posted on the WRMI website seem a little bit outdated.
There are many private German stations on FM. Sometimes, while on the Autobahn travelling south – with my wife driving 😉- I try to catch a couple of them. But getting a QSL from them seems more difficult today than it was say 20 years ago.
My reception of Ems-Vechte-Welle was made while spending a week in Exloo, earlier this year. Exloo is situated in Drenthe, closer to the border with the northern part of Germany than my home QTH. I used my littly Grundig G6 Aviator.
I received their transmitter in Lingen, Germany on 95.6 MHz. EVW is a socalled “Bürgerradio”, which translates as “citizen’s radio” (not to be confused with CB though). The station brings regional news and information without commercials. The name of the station refers to the two rivers in the region: “Ems” and “Vecht”.
Jan Schenkewitz (station manager) was so kind to send me an email confirming my reception report. And, when in the area again, I am invited to visit their station!
Following a tip from Hugo Matten I was trying to receive Charleville Radio VMC, Australia, transmitting weather fax messages on 13920 kHz for a while. Initially I didn’t succeed. On my suburban home QTH I’m very pleased with my Megaloop FX antenna on lower frequencies. However I am a bit worried that the performance in the higher frequency bands leaves room for improvement.
While camping I decided to test my new Boni Whip antenna in combination with the RSPdx. I purchased these specifically for camping trips. And on the first attempt I was lucky! Below you see one of the pictures I received, using HDSDR and MultiPSK. Australia is easily recognizable.
Weather report by FAX from Charleville Radio VMC, Australia
My reception on May 1st was awarded by Craig from Kordia with their beautiful eQSL card. Within in a day! Now I’m trying to catch Wiluna Radio… I got some signals, but not enough for a decent FAX image.
Today I received an email Radio 292 newsletter. They apologize for not sending out QSLs of late due to a lack of time. Ofcourse you can always try to QSL this station via one of the many individual program owners of shows they relay. Check their website for more info.
Interesting is that they will relay programmes from the European Parliament on Radio 292 for the first time. Frequencies are 6070 and 9670 kHz: May 6th : 9-10 h UTC May 9th : 17-18 h UTC May 13th : 9-10 h UTC
eQSLs are awarded. Reports should contain at least 15 minutes of content description and comments on signal quality. WebSDRs allowed. Send your reports to QSL@europarl.europa.eu
Radio Seabreeze has two transmitters operational. On 1395 kHz from Grou in the northern province of Friesland they use a 100 Watt transmitter. On the same frequency they operated a transmitter from Laren. As that resulted in issues with interference they moved the Laren transmitter to 1098 kHz.
As Laren is situated in the south-east corner of the province of North Holland (still with me😉?), this will benefit listeners in the central part of the Netherlands. More information on the Seabreeze website. Reception reports are welcome via their webform.
I recorded the announcement of their new frequency on this YouTube link.
On April 26th I received a program with ID as Radio Augusta on 1611 kHz, around 20.30 hrs UTC. The program corresponded with the live stream on www.radioaugusta.com . I sent an email to the station manager didier@radioaugusta.com and received a nice email confirming that I actually listened to the Radio Augusta program.
QSL email Radio Augusta 1611 kHz
Didier is a retired Belgian teacher with a history in the Belgian free radio scene. He now lives in Ivory Coast where he produces the Augusta programmes since 2016. The station is named after his wife. In addition to the internet stream there is an outlet on FM 103.9 Mhz locally.
A listener in Europe wrote to Didier that he is broadcasting the internet stream via 1611 kHz. Didier writes on the website that he is not displeased with this, but doesn’t know anything about the transmitter or its location.
Radio Augusta is an internet stream produced in Ivory Coast. It’s relayed by an unknown listener on 1611 kHz somewhere in Europe.
I received a beautiful e-QSL Radio 182 Waddinxveen 1485 kHz. Accompanied by a friendly and detailed email from Gert Voogd. With 4 Watts PEP only this is truly a low power AM (LPAM) station. The 1485 kHz frequency is allocated in the Netherlands to stations with an effective power of 1 Watt max. Obviously this is done to avoid interference from the bigger 100 Watt LPAM stations. In the evening hower the SER stations with 10 kW from Spain will provide a challenge to the DX listener.
Despite being a small AM station it has very mature 24/7 programming. And that is because the little AM outlet is more or less a fun addition to Radio 182 on DAB+ for the “Midden Holland” region. Basically this is the area between Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht, also know as the “Green Heart” of the Netherlands. They are really looking forward to reception reports, either via the webform or email: info@radio182.nl
QSL of Radio 182 Waddinxveen, showing the landmark lift bridge (built in 1936)
What I like about their QSL card is that it shows the Lift Bridge in Waddinxveen across the river Gouwe. Together with a similar bridge a few kilometers north in Boskoop it was constructed in 1936, a real piece of industrial heritage. On my cycling tours these bridges are real landmarks, as they can be seen from miles away in our flat polder landscape.
The 4 Watt PEP transmitter of Radio 182The antenna of Radio 182.
Waddinxveen is about 18 km from my QTH. But based on the strength of the signal they probably enjoy a relatively big reception area. This is facilitated by their antenna being placed on a huge steel roof that provides perfect ground effect. The SINPO written on the QSL card is in fact incorrect, it is more like 45454 here in Woerden.
For a couple of evenings I’ve now heard Radio Rock Revolution on 1233 kHz in pretty decent quality. Today I found them signing on at 19:04 h UTC. Sign off after midnight. Hard rock heard yesterday, today a bit more mainstream. Frequent IDs, “Radio Rock Revolution, where passion for rock never ends…“, but nothing else. Location unknown, loop seems to indicate East – West direction from central part of the Netherlands.
I heard this station with same IDs on 1494 kHz mid november 2022. Does someone have more info? Please comment on this post!
QSL RNZ Pacific 11725 kHz is my second QSL from the other side of the world in two days only!
It is always fascinating to receive radiosignals from the other side of the world. But when I got into DX-ing in the late 70-ies, Radio New Zealand International was not an easy catch. They were using two old US military transmitters from World War II with 7.5 kW only. I still remember vividly how “once-off “reception conditions allowed us to receive them in perfect quality during a DX-weekend with the BDXC in the Meppel Youth Hostel.
In support of a more proactive foreign policy towards the Pacific, new 100 kW transmitters were taken in service in 1987. Location is Rangitaiki on the Northern Island with studios in Wellington. They are rebranding to RNZ Pacific. I hear them frequently on 11725 kHz in the evening hours. Their latest schedule can be found here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/listen
RNZ Pacific is no longer processing postal reports but offers a webform . It doesn’t generate an automatic QSL, reports are still being reviewed fortunately. I sent a report for my reception on my SDRPlay RSPdx with 10 meter longwire while camping in Appelscha, Drenthe.
QSL RNZ Pacific 11725 kHz (formerly Radio New Zealand International)
Charleville Wiluna Radio with DCS messages on 16804.5 kHz is a relatively easy catch. Two things are a little bit more complicated:
First problem: what was the station I was actually listening to? Australia is a big country. In the 80-ies, individual stations had dedicated callsigns. I received VIP (Perth), VIS (Sydney), VIM (Melbourne) etc. in CW. But like in many other countries everything is now centralized, and Charleville (east coast, near Brisbane) and Wiluna (west coast, near Carnarvon) operate under the callsign VIC (formerly the Carnarvon callsign if I’m right). Mind you, both Charleville and Wiluna are not even coastal towns. Bad news: this is probably not going to change anymore…
1988 OTS QSL received via VIP Perth Radio, showing all call signs in use in those days
Second problem: whom to write to? Again “modern times”. As far as I know RCC Australia falls under the responsibility of AMSA “Australian Maritime Safety Agency“. But my email to them was answered with “this is something for Kordia”. Kordia is a service provider in Australia. But when I searched the internet I learned that Kordia was changing to “Ventia”. From my own experience I know that such changes typically result in a change of email addresses etc… so I decided to send a physical letter to the RCC Canberra address. And here comes the good news: my letter ended up with Craig Bloom, Senior Communications Operator at what is still Kordia. Craig answered with a kind email and the beautiful VIC QSL card! Drop a comment if you want to receive the contactdetails as I don’t like to publish email addresses that are not part of public domain.
UPDATE: Craig confirmed that rebranding of Kordia is complete, but their part of the operation will continue as Kordia.
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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