The wonderful world of listening to the radio
Another nice catch during the June 2nd opening resulted in a QSL from Radio Sintony. Radio Sintony is radio station from the island of Sardinia (or Sardegna) in Italy. I received them on 92.4 MHz. The 2.5 kW transmitter is located in Sant’Antiocio on the southwest tip of the island: 1473 km from my QTH. This is their station ID as I received it:
I sent my report to diretta@sintony.it and amministrazione@sintony.it. Valeria Cauli was so kind to return a fully detailed QSL:
Radio 24 is a nation wide commercial FM station in Italy. I received them on 93.2 MHz. This must be the 4kW transmitter in Gioiosa Marea, in the northeast of Sicily (1734 kms from my QTH).
Not an easy catch as on 93.1 MHz I have the provincial station Radio M from Utrecht only 14 kilometers away with 630W. I can see their antenna from my roof terrace. Check my Youtube clip: Radio 24 93 200 MHz, 2024 06 02 17h00Z (youtube.com)
Radio 24 is owned by the editorial group Gruppo 24 ORE, which also owns the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. So no surprise that Radio 24 broadcasts a news/talk format.
Jonica Radio started in the 80ies in the city of Cosenza. Today they can be heard in the regions Calabria, Basilicata en Puglia, the most southern regions of Italy as shown in the picture below.
I heard Jonica Radio on 93.3 MHz. FM List shows three transmitters but without details on power. So the exact location is a little bit of a guess. And it wasn’t an easy catch. I heard their station name on 33 and 40 seconds in this clip.
I sent my report to info@jonicaradio.it and received this fully detailed QSL email within a day. I’m very grateful to the folks at Jonica Radio for listening to my noisy recording and sending a confirmation!
Radio Kiss Kiss is a commercial station with an Italy wide network on FM. They focus on soul, funk and disco. I heard them on 92.2 MHz. I made a Youtube clip so you can hear for yourself: Radio KissKiss, 92 200 MHz, 2024 06 02 17h52Z (youtube.com)
There are 5 stations listed on this frequency, with the 5 kW station from Cupello being the strongest. As I heard a few other stations from that part of Italy I assume this might be the transmitter I received.
I sent my report to info@kisskiss.it , and received an answer within a day. In addition to Radio Kiss Kiss I also heard Kiss Kiss Italia en Kiss Kiss Napoli on June 2nd. They have the same parent company: Media Radio . Unfortunately I did not receive a reply on my reports for them yet.
The spectacular sporadic E opening on June 2nd resulted in quite a few QSLs. One of the first stations I heard was Radio Radicale on 88.6 MHz. Most likely from Rocca di Papa, some 20 kilometers southeast of Rome (1291 kms from my QTH). With 251 kW (listed) the transmitter is probably one of the strongest in Italy. As I couldn’t find an email address I filled in the webform their on their site. Within a day I received a simple reply attached to my message:
Yes,it’s Radio Radicale
Thank you very much
Radio Radicale was founded in 1975-76 as the radio station of the Italian Radical Party. When I saw their logo I thought this would be a socialist party (as the rose is symbol of socialism). But apparently the ideology was liberal. “Was” because the party was dissolved in 1989.
Radio Radicale continues however, but as you can read on Wikipedia, not without controversy. The station has no commercial advertisements. It relies for funding on the party and support from the Italian government as part of an agreement that Radio Radicale broadcasts parliamentary sessions. Which is exactly the sort of programme that I received, as you can hear on my YouTube clip.
Thanks to a tip from René van Hoof I was able to receive Amica Radio Veneta in the late afternoon. A day later I received this nice QSL letter from Amica RAdio Veneta 1017 kHz. They are broadcasting from Peraga di Vigonza, near Padua, Italy. I sent my report to amicaradioveneta@yahoo.com .
I made little YouTube clip with a clear station ID. They were broadcasting nice Italian music.
According to MW List Quick and Easy Amica Radio Veneta is on air until 1800 UTC only. They are broadcasting with 1 kW, which is on the treshold of being an LPAM (Low Power AM station). That said, at 17 hrs UTC they dominated the RNE station from Burgos with 10 kW on the same frequency.
Following a brief email confirmation in August I received this beautiful “Ukraine” e- QSL from NEXUS IBA 1323 kHz. They broadcast from Villa Estense in Italy.
As they wrote in the accompanying email; “Our latest QSL card is dedicated to all the people in Ukraine, those who died, and those who left their home country as refugees during the current times of war. The card was designed by Pauline Marx, a young German artist who joins us in expressing a message of hope to the people in Ukraine because there is always hope for a better future”.
They continue:
“We run extraordinary high power broadcast on Shortwave and Medium Wave (1368 kHz) in the evenings with news and inspirational programs to reach those in the current conflict zones. If you wish to know more or support our efforts, please visit our web pages:
Humanitarian Radio Broadcasting at the time of the Ukrainian war
You may also donate to our fund to sponsor the cost of airtime and allow us to
continue these broadcasts:
https://www.nexus.org/ukraine-donate-to-humanitarian-radio-broadcasting/ “
UPDATE!: Today I received another email from the Centrale Milano Team. I received their testsignals – with only 10 Watts – a few weeks ago. I was promised a QSL Radio Centrale Milano 1575 kHz and here it is:
I’m really pleased with this QSL. It confirmed the low power and it shows the beautiful Cathedral in Milan which I had the opportunity to visit some 20 years ago.
Enzo from Centrale Milano wrote this in his email:
Here our QSL for your archive and some other picture of the studios and myself (Enzo) recently and during the seventies in American Radio Milano.
I was a former DJ in many Italian radio station and a speaker/voice actor for many years.
Now, my mission is to keep alive the Medium Waves in Italy and in Europe if possible….. with 10w and more (:).
We are authorized to use the historical Rai 1575Khz frequency up to 1kw so, it seem it should work very well.
Thank you very much again.
Stay Tuned !
Enzo
Radio Centrale Milano
www.centralemilano.com
On the pictures below you see Enzo today and Enzo in the past! Stay tuned for this new station as they prepare for regular broadcasts!
Within a day I got an email QSL for Radio Centrale Milano 1575 kHz. Thanks to a tip in Hugo’s DX Hoekje I learned that they are testing on 1575 kHz.
You can already listen to Centrale Milano via an internet stream. The station intends to start broadcasting via mediumwave from Alessandria, Italy, as well. Despite a power of only 10 Watts and a distance of 840 kilometers the reception was pretty good August 28th, 23h UTC. During the tests the station transmits a pulse with increasing pitch. That results in a very interesting waterfall on the HDSDR as you can see in the picture below. But it is even nicer to view and listen to a little YouTube clip I made.
In the email reply on my reception report Enzo at Radio Centralo Milano wrote:
Yes, we are testing our site near to Alessandria where we are authorized to use the 1575khz formerly in charge of the Italian Rai and now assigned to us.
The test are performed with a 50mt folded dipole and 10w carrier. We are authorized to 1kw and it seem we will reach you again probably much better ! The regular programs currently available online will be soon activated replacing the test tones and increased (in quality and number of direct ‘on air’) starting from January next year.
I’m 60y/o, owner of the radio and very happy to meet person as you, with your passion for the radio. Congratulations for you ability to capture a so low signal coming from so far away !
You will receive soon our QSL, for the moment thanks again and stay tuned !
As a follow up to my previous post: I received a kind email from Stephen Jones (gwendolinestreet(at)gmail.com), the producer of “16 Gwendoline Street”. I received this program via IRRS-NEXUS, Italy, 1323 kHz. Stephen wrote that the program I received a program that was made by Rose from Radio Northern Europe International while he was visiting a poetry festival on the Isle of Wight.
“16 Gwendoline Street” has been on air via IRRS since 2007. Focus is mainly on a core group of dedicated listeners to what Stephen describes as “Loosely Arts based”.
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