I don’t think that there are many examples of regional stations which target an audience in two countries? But feel free to drop a comment if you know one. Anyway, Radio Seefunk, or better Das Neue Radio Seefunk is tuned into by some 147000 German and 35000 Swiss listeners.
Email from Radio Seefunk to confirm my reception
The station started as a local radio for the city of Konstanz under the name Seefunk Radio Bodensee. Today they have 13 transmitters across the south of Baden Württemberg in Germany. Rebranded to Das Neue Radio Seefunk in 2019 they bring music from “Vier Jahrzehnten” (4 decades) targeting an 30+ audience.
I received them while staying near Ulm. Mr. Grunewald was so kind to confirm my report sent to redaktion(at)radio-seefunk.de .
A QSL for my reception of COPE Málaga on 89.8 MHz. I heard them during a Sporadic E opening on June 24th. The transmitter is located south west of Málaga and has a power of 5 kW. Again Artur from Maresme DX was a great help in making the connect with Javier Campos from the technical department at COPE Málaga.
Again with the help of Artur from Maresme DX I received a very nice email and a scan of a QSL letter from Radio Surco, broadcasting from Tomelloso, Spain, on 91.4 FM. I posted a recording of my reception on YouTube. Radio Surco has two transmitter sites: 2 kW on 91.4 MHz, and 1.2 kW on 99.2 MHz:
Radio Surco transmitter locations
Dear Peter,
Thank you for contacting us and receiving news from the Netherlands. This year, at least, we have received three messages like yours, from different locations. We assume that due to the location of our broadcast tower and the very flat area where we are, the waves work their magic and allow us to reach distant places.
We are a radio station with two broadcasting centers, but according to your instructions, it is Tomelloso’s that you heard. Radio Surco Tomelloso was born in 1986 and is an independent commercial station. Its cover, being a flat land, covers “La Mancha”, an area of the Autonomous Community of Castilla La Mancha to which four of its provinces belong. Tomelloso is in CiudadReal, specifically.
The Radio Surco Tomelloso station is located about 12 kilometers as the crow flies or cross-country
I attach the certificate you are requesting, although we do not have an official model. Thank you for being on the other side and greetings from Spain.
Montserrat Castellanos Cañones Directora
QSL letter from Radio Surco, Tomelloso, Spain, 91.4 MHz
Where would I be with a little help from my friends? I heard Blue Radio Chella on 90.2 MHz, but my report remained unanswered. Artur Fernández Llorella was so kind to help me to get in touch with Alex Selfa, director of the station. Within a day I got a nice email confirmation:
Blue Radio is a local station broadcasting on 90.2 MHz with 2.5 kW power from Chella. Headquarters are in Xátiva, 50 km south of Valencia.
I received a nice and personal QSL email from Mrs. Fadela Yahiaoui Boudjelal at Radio Laghouat from Algeria. I heard them on 87.6 MHz, my first reception of an Algerian radio station on FM.
Mrs. Boudjelal writes that Laghouat is a beautiful oasis in the south of Algeria and invites everyone to visit. The funny thing is that, if you look on the map, Laghouat is pretty much in the north of Algeria. That said there is basically nothing south of it other than Sahara desert. It reminded me of my time in Edmonton, which was also referred to as “Northern Alberta”, basically because there was pretty much nothing north of it (while geographically it was located in the south).
With thanks to Patrick Robic and Artur Fernández Llorella for helping me to find the correct address.
A reader of this blog, Abdelilah (thank you for commenting) suggested that I did not know a lot about Algeria, and he is right. But, you learn through this hobby. In 1849 Laghouat was conquered by the French. The French ordered the slaughter of the entire population and the destruction of the town. Two thirds of the population were butchered before the order was withdrawn and the town was spared. No surprise maybe that the armed revolt against the French in 1955 started in Laghouat.
OOps… I checked my Spam inbox and had a nice surprise: a few weeks ago I received a QSL from Radio Tour, a smaller regional station from the Potenza area. I heard them on 101.8 MHz, a transmitter from Potenza with 500 Watts. I sent my report with MP3 to scrivi@radiotour.fm and received a reply within a day!
email to QSL my reception of regional station Radio Tour from Potenza, Italy
Radio Tour operates 13 fairly low power transmitters from the Potenza area. And that’s what I like about this catch! The strongest station is 4 kW on 100.3 MHz, also from Potenza. There is an 800 Watt transmitter in Balvano, and their third strongest transmitter is the one I received… The slogan of Radio Tour is “Radio Tour Viaggo in 1a classe nel passato” – “Radio Tour, I travel 1st class journey into the past”… which I found a bit surprising as I heard songs from the 90-ies… but that’s probably because of my own age…
Radio Maria operates 95 radio stations in many countries around the world. I have received Radio Maria stations from Austria, Colombia, Italy, Venezuela. A few years ago they were even active on the former Dutch national radio frequency of 675 kHz before this transmitter was closed. But unlike similar world wide religious broadcasters like AWR or TWR they have no presence on shortwave.
F/d email to QSL Radio Maria España, received on 88.5 MHz.
Mr. Lopez from Radio Maria España was so kind to confirm the report of my reception made during a Sporadic E opening on June 24th. I sent my report to radiomaria@radiomaria.es . Unfortunately their are 4 stations present on this frequency, all low power. Given reception conditions that day my guess is that Toledo (2kW) was the transmitter I received, Marbella being less likely.
A QSL from CADENA 100. I heard them during the June 24th opening to Spain. The 8 kW transmitter is located in Murcia. I sent my report to cadena100@cadena100.es.
Email QSL from CADENA 100, Murcia, 89.7 MHz
CADENA 100 is a nationwide network owned by COPE. It broadcasts adult contemporary music. I heard a quiz and the “Black Eyed Peas”. In 2023 it was the 2nd most listened to music radio station in Spain.
The return on my Spanish Sporadic E reception reports is quite poor. Especially when you compare it to the response rate of the Italian stations (over 50%). But at least my report to Pop Lasser FM from Valencia, Spain, was answered with a kind reply from the technical department. I sent my report to popradiofmvalencia@gmail.com .
Email answering my reception report to Radio Pop Lasser on 90.3 MHz from Valencia, Spain.
Pop Lasser (the RDS display shows Laser by the way) broadcasts from Valencia with only 2 kW. I heard them with pop music and local commercials from Valencia, which – in addition to the PI code/RDS – helped the identification.
Yesterday I received a fully detailed email from Paolo at Radio Radicale to confirm my reception on 88.6 MHz from Rocca di Papa, Italy. He shared that he is very familiar with the hobby and had a passion for shortwave radio in his youth. Thank you Paolo for the kind email and personal touch!
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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