The wonderful world of listening to the radio
On Wednesday evening 21:28 UTC I received a local program from COPE Murcia on 711 kHz. Murcia is the name of a city and corresponding region in Spain. Carlos Corral from the Technical Department was so kind to confirm my reception with a nice email. Thank you Carlos!
I enjoyed an email conversation with Dicky Denkers, the man behind the transmitters and antennas of LPAM stations Radio Emmeloord and Radio 0511. The antenna of Radio 0511 is located in Easternijtsjerk (in Frysian) or Oosternijkerk (in Dutch). In the north of the Netherlands, close to the Waddenzee. It is an inverted L , mounted on a windmill as you can see in the picture below:
Radio Emmeloord was stronger than Radio 0511 at my holiday location near Appelscha, some 50 kms away in the Drents-Friese forests. Dicky explained to me that the longer wave length might help getting through an area surrounded by forests. Being an experienced mediumwave broadcaster – going back tot the days of Radio Veronica and MiAmigo – he mentioned that stations in the past also struggled in this respect.
I received Radio Emmeloord while camping in Appelscha on June 18th and sent a reception report to info@radioemmeloord.nl . Dick Offringa is the man behind Radio Emmeloord as you can read in this article of De Ondernemer. He sent his regards via my website and forwarded my report to Dicky Denkers who sent a nice email with some details on the station which is located near Harlingen in Pietersbierum.
For a LPAM transmitter the station in Harlingen has an impressive antenna, a T antenna between two 30 meter masts. Unfortunately it is almost impossible for me to receive this station in my home QTH in Woerden, as MCB from Alphen a/d Rijn(15 km) dominates the frequency. In the evening I can indeed hear MCB in the background here in Appelscha.
On May 18th, Radio Dechovka brought a special program to commemorate the fact that regular radio broadcasts started 100 years ago in Czechoslovakia. They used the Prague Zbraslav transmitter on 1233 kHz. A special QSL was issued Radio Dechovka to confirm reception reports for this event.
The Prague Zbraslav transmitter on 1233 kHz is normally not in use by Radio Dechovka as they can’t afford the bill. Their normal programming can be heard on 792 and 1260 kHz. Some sources report that 1233 khz might be taken off the air forever later this year.
The nice thing about the Radio Dechovka QSL is that it came by regular mail. A real old fashioned QSL, plus stickers, my report stamped in a beautiful priority mail envelope!
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馃槈?), 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.
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.
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
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.
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!
These days most stations respond to reception reports with an email or – if you are lucky – an e-QSL. But Radio SeaBreeze is “old school”. For my reception report to info@radioseabreeze.nl I received this very nice QSL card by traditional mail.
Radio SeaBreeze is one of the Dutch Low Power AM (LPAM) stations in the Netherlands. They broadcast on 1395 kHz from the village of Grou in the province of Friesland with 100 Watt. What I like about the station is that they have plenty live programs (that is with a DJ). Some of the other LPAM stations just play non-stop music from a computer. I don’t understand the fun of that to be honest.
SeaBreeze is also planning to start broadcasting with 50 Watt on 1098 kHz from the village of Laren in North Holland. At the time of writing I don’t know if they are already in the air. I will check, and provide updates accordingly!
Yesterday I posted the e-QSL from Dank贸 R谩di贸. The other thematic Hungarian radiostation broadcasting on mediumwave is Nemzetis茅gi R谩di贸. The name translates as “Nationality Radio”. This station offers programmes to the etnic minorities, or maybe better said, language minorities in Hungary. And there are quite a few of those: Armenian, Bulgarian, German, Greek, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovakian, Ukranian and two Roma languages Lov谩ri und Be谩s.
Nemzetis茅gi R谩di贸 has transmitters on 873 kHz (20 kW, 2 locations), 1188 kHz (300/100 kW). But my report from December last year is for the weakest of the bunch, the 5 kW transmitter in Gy枚r. And that’s nice because I visited this city while on a bicycling tour with my girlfriend (still my wife 馃槝) years ago in 1986. Our first 3 week cycling tour outside the Benelux. To travel beyond the “iron curtain” in those days, on a bicycle with camping gear, was not as common as bikepackers today might think. My wife and I share fond memories of that adventure!
As with Dank贸 R谩di贸 I got my e-QSL with a report to ugyelet@mtva.hu, signed by Mr. Ivan Kovacs.
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