The wonderful world of listening to the radio
Update: For my reception report to CJYE in January I got two friendly email repies from Hollie at the admin desk. But they didn’t really qualify as a QSL. So I tried it with the PPC format that I started to use this year. Paige Dent, director of engineering was so kind to sign and return the QSL to me.
CJYE 1250 “Joy Radio” brings Christian music and talk radio to the greater Toronto area. I sent my report to: 309 Church Street, Oakville, ON, L6J 1N9, Canada.
A fully detailed QSL letter from Malin Head Radio 518 kHz. Watch officer Mc Dermott was so kind to confirm my report within minutes. I sent my report to: mrsc.malin@transport.gov.ie . Its my second QSL from Malin Head Radio. The first one was from 31 years ago for a USB transmission on 2182/1677 kHz.
Malin Head Coast Guard Radio has a nice facebook page posting their current activities. But I also found a “facebook legacy site” with some interesting information:
The station was opened in 1902 by the Marconi Marine Company on behalf of Lloyds. Located at the northernmost tip of Ireland, this station was ideally positioned to communicate with shipping coming across the Atlantic or from northern waters. But already in 1805 Lloyds had a signal station on this location.
In 1988 the morse code services from Malin Head on 500 and 421 kHz were discontinued. That turned out to be a bit early. There was one instance where the station’s 500kHz automatic alarm receiver, which remained on watch, was activated by the signals of a sinking ship far out in the Atlantic. Malin Head Radio was the only station able to copy the weak signals from the ship’s lifeboat. With the station’s transmitters dismantled, return transmissions had to be made by her sister station Valentia Radio – not the most ideal means of conducting a distress situation.
Thanks to the team of Malin Head Radio for issuing QSL to us DX folks. And once again I learned something just by listening to the radio!
Not exactly DX from my location, but I am also a QSL collector and the Dutch Coastguard issues this nice QSL email. So here it is. I received my QSL Dutch Coastguard Den Helder 518 kHz for one of their NAVTEX transmissions.
The Dutch Coastguard has a nice website in English, but their history is best told on the site in Dutch (use Google to translate). Coastguard activities in the Netherlands started following a tragic incident with a Navy ship “Zr.Ms.Adder” in 1882. The ship sank near Scheveningen, but nobody noticed the ship was missing. Only when the first bodies washed ashore alarm bells went off. From 1882 onwards the crews on the lighthouses – which were already there as navigation aids – had to monitor traffic actively and had to report incidents.
Over the years 6 different departments in The Netherlands developed activities on the North Sea. Fishery, Traffic, Justice, Defense, Finance and Internal Affairs. In 1987 it was decided these departments had to work together from a central location in IJmuiden. I have a PPC QSL from 1993 indicating that in those days radio traffic was limited to emergency frequencies (2182 kHz and VHF) only. Telephony/telegraphy including weather and navigational warnings were broadcast via PCH Scheveningen Radio.
In 1994 it was concluded that the cooperation between the 6 departments needed improvement. The Coastguard was established as an independent entity, with its operations coordinated under responsibility of the Royal Dutch Navy. As a consequence the Coastguard centre moved to Den Helder which is the main port of the Navy.
With more an more communication going via satellite Scheveningen Radio closed in 1998. My guess is that since then navigational warnings via NAVTEX were transferred to the Coastguard.
A station that I received quite often this year was WZAN “The Outlaw” from Portland, Maine, USA on 970 kHz. They are listed with only 5 kilowatts, but their – for us DX-ers excellent – location on the Atlantic coast most likely makes up for that. This can easily be seen on the night-time coverage maps published on the interesting Radio Locator website:
Mr. Phil Zachary from the Portland Radio Group replied to my reception report by email. He mentioned that they get quite a few reports from DX-ers.
In 2019 the stations changed from ESPN sports to its current “classic country” format, branded as “The Outlaw”.
Mr. Zamperin, Morning show Host and Assistant director was so kind to send an email QSL for CHML 900 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
The shut down of many European AM broadcasters makes life easier for us medium wave DX-ers. But on this frequency Saudi Arabia hits the back of my loop antenna with 400 kW strong Holy Quran chants. So in the end I switched to the MW circle KiWiSDR in Clashmore, Scotland to collect enough details for my report.
This blog is about listening to the radio and not only about the reception of QSLs. So I’d like to share this nice surprise.
Aasiaat Radio in Greenland was my most remote log on 2187.5 kHz. Until last night when all of a sudden Bangkok Radio from Thailand showed up on DX-Atlas. I have received Bangkok Radio a couple of times on 12 Mhz but never on 2 MHz.
With a DSC message they responded to a test call from bulk carrier “BASS” near Banda Aceh on its way from Sikka, India to Singapore.
Unfortunately I don’t have an email address of Bangkok Radio, and I couldn’t find recent QSLs on the internet. But if you have info, feel free to drop it in the comments.
I received a fully detailed email QSL from WWKB “The Bet” on 1520 kHz from Buffalo, NY, USA. WWKB follows a trend in which more and more stations use a catchy name. Since 2021 they brand themselves as “The Bet 1520” as they focus on sports gambling. I heard quite a few “BetMGM” commercials.
Receiving a Transatlantic station might be a challenge, getting their QSL is another one. The websites of the stations are often blocked for IP addresses outside Europe, so you have to use a VPN connection. But even then often the only contact opportunity granted is via a web form. This makes it difficult to personalize your reception report and impossible to include a MP3 recording. And so far I had poor experience in getting a reply. But as you can see, Kevin Carr from WWKB did reply with a nicely detailed email within a day.
In the last few days I enjoyed pretty good Transatlantic medium wave conditions. This resulted in a couple of QSLs that I will post in the coming days. The QSL for WJR 760 Detroit, Michigan, USA, is the first of those. Mr. Keith Bosworth, regional director of engineering for the Cumulus Group was so kind to confirm my reception with full details:
Whenever you receive a station with a three letter call-sign you can bet it is an older station with a great legacy. The roots of WJR go back to May 4th, 1922, albeit under the call-sign WCX. That is only 5 months after December 1st, 1921. On this date the US government adopted regulations formally defining “broadcasting stations”. The wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz) was designated for entertainment broadcasts, while 485 meters (619 kHz) was reserved for broadcasting official weather and other government reports (source: Wikipedia).
WCX obtained a license for both frequencies. With a fast growing number of stations competition was fierce. Stations in the same region had to “time-share”. It took until 2023 when a band running from 550 to 1350 kHz was opened for broadcast activities. But even then WCX had to time-share on 580 kHz with WWJ from Detroit. This situation lasted until 1925, when WWJ was assigned to 850 kHz. That was also the year in which the Jewett Radio & Phonograph Company received a license for a new station. The letters of the call-sign letter WJR apparently refer to this company. This company took over WCX and the call-sign WJR survived until today.
The studios are still located in the Fisher Building, a “sky scraper” in Art Deco style, built in 1928. The antennas on top of the building relay the signals to the transmitter site.
My second attempt to QSL Polish Rescue Radio on 2187.5 kHz was successful!
Polish Rescue Radio operates from the city of Gdynia in Poland. I heard them with a DSC message to a cargo ship GT Foresti. When I checked the ship was in the Kiel canal, connecting the East (Baltic) Sea with the North Sea, on its way to Brake, a harbor in the Weser river, north of Bremen.
I snet my report to gmdss@umgdy.gov.pl . Polish Rescue Radio replaced Witowo Radio on January 1st, 2020. They have a very nice website that provides lots of info on their operations.
When I resumed the DX hobby about a year ago I didn’t think that I would be able to add new EDXC radio countries to my total. But this QSL for TWR PANI Kyrgyzstan on 1467 kHz already adds my 3rd new country to my list. It brings my total on 191 as I was never able to get a QSL from the Kyrgyzstan national radio.
TWR has always been a very DX friendly station. But the structure of their organization and website is really tuned to meet the needs of the individual target audiences. As a result it is a bit complicated for DX-ers to find schedules and program/station owners. As Mr. Kalman Dobos from TWR Europe was so kind to send me a QSL for the TWR broadcast from Armenia, I asked him. And indeed within 5 weeks I had my eQSL. The report I sent to TWR Asia via a web form remains unanswered at the time of writing.
As was the case for Armenia, the QSL unfortunately only mentions Central Asia. Fortunately there is no confusion possible with TWR from Roumoules, which dominates the frequency in the evening with its high power transmitter from France.
The programs from Kyrgyzstan are referred to as TWR PANI: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Northern India. And the languages spoken are from that region, which makes it difficult to pick up details. But at 15:43 a recording of male voice in English mentioning TWR360.org twice was played. It was followed by the well known TWR interval signal and a telephone number that was repeated in English. That’s probably the best way to identify the station, as there was also another Middle East station from either Saudi Arabia or Iran present on the same frequency. And yes, a local LPAM, Radio Eldorado, contributed to the QRM as well.
More info on the station can be read on the very informative Ydun’s Medium Wave Info site.
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