Of the many BBC Local Radio stations which you could hear on MW there are only 6 left: Norfolk, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Derby, Guernsey and Cumbria. As soon as Radio Romania Actualitati shuts down at 22:00 UTC you can hear them with a local program. Later in the night they switch to a relay of BBC Radio 5 live.
Mr. Andy Stevenson, operations engineer at the BBC Technology group was so kind to confirm my report by email. He included a link to a site which shows the antennas in Carlisle: https://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallerypage.php?txid=1452
Yep, not the shortest title for a post, probably the longest. Last week I received a DSC transmission identifying as MMSI 002573550 with a test to MMSI 002570000 “Norwegian Public Correspondence”. MMSI 002573550 is listed as Vardo VTS (Vessel Traffic Service).
Norway Vessel Traffic Service (Kystverket) has a nice website but to be honest the structure of VTS is not immediately clear. From this link I conclude that there are 5 VTS centres of which Vardo is one. They are responsible for safe maritime traffic, which includes things like navigational and weather warnings. But they seem to be active on VHF only. Nevertheless I decided to send a report to post@kystverket.no . Within a day I received this answer:
Good afternoon. NOR VTS/Vardo VTS/Navarea 19 and The National Coordinator for Navigational Warnings is placed i Vardø in North Norway. We broadcast navigational message to the seafarers. This we do in collaboration with Norwegian Kystradio. Some types of messages they send out and some we send out but the responsibility lies in Vardø. Norwegian Kystradio is located in Bodø. We are under Norwegian Coastal Administration. Best regards VTS operator NOR VTS NORWEGIAN COASTAL ADMINISTRATION
Not really a QSL. I followed up asking if they could confirm it was their station I heard, but that email has not been answered yet.
In parallel I sent a report to Kystradio Nord in Bodø. This resulted in this answer:
So where does that leave me? Well… in the old days (40 years ago) things were easy. You had an office, your own transmitter, your own antenna. Today you have a service. The service could be “monitoring emergencies” like what Kystradio Nord does, or “ensuring safe maritime traffic” like what VTS Norway is doing. But the employees often don’t have an idea on the technical infrastructure needed to perform these tasks. That is a given, with transmitters and antennas operated and maintained by contractors – such as Telenor.
I saw a post on the internet that said that we should regard MMSI 002573550 as a convenient telephone number. If that call is made and received by the antennas in Vardo (or any other antenna) the operators know that this call has to be routed to Vardo VTS (if there is even an operator involved to route such a call). That makes perfect sense.
I assume that it doesn’t make sense for Kystradio Nord to run a test with MMSI 002573550 for Vardo VTS via one of their other MW transmitters like in Bodø. So… this is a QSL for MMSI Vardo VTS via the Kystradio Nord transmitter in Vardo. Any thoughts? Let me know in via the comments on this post.
The eQSL for Kystradio Nord which also accompanied the “Vardo VTS” QSL.
My previous post was about Izmir Türk Radio, a station that I rarely receive. But Istanbul Türk Radio from Turkey is – together with Coruna, Valencia and Olympia Radio – very dominant here on the DSC frequencies.
I received this email QSL in January 2023, about 2 months after I restarted the hobby. At the time I didn’t have this weblog up and running. So this is a bit of a catch- up:
QSL Istanbul Türk Radyo on 2187.5 kHz
Note that the reception date quoted is incorrect, it should be December 2022 obviously. Unlike Izmir, Istanbul Radio can also be heard on HF frequencies, making it an easier catch for listeners outside Europe/Middle East.
QSL for Izmir Türk Radio 2187.5 kHz. Back in the 80-ies I heard this station from Turkey quite often, or better said, I heard calls made to this station often on 2182 kHz. The “Iezzmir – Iezzmir” call from the radio officers was easily recognizable. But I never managed to QSL them.
Last night I heard them for the first time in DSC mode. They sent an answer to a test call from cargo ship Erge (Panamese flag) anchored in Izmir harbor. My report to turkradyo@kiyiemniyeti.gov.tr was answered within a day with an almost fully detailed reply.
One of the Norwegian coastal radio stations I heard often in CW during the 80-ies was Rogaland Radio. But I never managed to get a QSL from them. Today they frequently pop up in the DSC log for 2187.5 kHz. So I decided to send a report to Mr. Stian Tveit who is so kind to act as QSL manager at Kystradio Sor in Norway.
It turned out that I not only heard Rogaland Radio but also Bergen Radio… another one that was missing in my collection. Thank you Stian for the QSL!
QSL card from Kystradio Sor for the reception of the Rogaland and Bergen transmitters
An e QSL for a new LPAM station from the Netherlands. Golden Oldies Radio from Hoogvliet near Rotterdam started broadcasting on 1224 kHz earlier this year. Power is 100 Watt. Here in Woerden (Hoogvliet is about 45 kms south west from here) reception is good during day time, but in the evening COPE Lugo is causing interference. At the same time it has become more difficult to receive the Radio 1224, another LPAM from Lunteren, some 50 kilometers to the east from my home QTH.
One of the first things I discovered when I restarted the hobby almost 2 years ago is how easy it is to decode the various digital modes these days. I played with MultiPSK and received a weather fax from JOMOC Royal Navy Northwood on 2618.5 kHz. The quality was quite poor as I was still working with a simple indoor MLA30+ loop, which picked up a lot of noise. But the JOMOC ID was clearly visible:
Weather Fax from Royal Navy (pretty poor quality)
As I didn’t have an email address I sent my report by regular mail. One and a half year later I received a beautiful paper QSL card. And a letter apologizing for the delay. Well, it was worth waiting for:
Fully detailed “old school” QSL card from JOMOC RN Northwood
Apart from the long wait there was a complication in receiving this QSL. For some reason or another a customs declaration form was attached to the envelope. Indicating that the value of the contents was 10 GBP. And prior to delivery by PostNL I had to pay 8 Euros taxes and admin fee as the UK is no longer part of the EU. A complaint could only be filed after payment. Upon reception of the QSL I tried to file the complaint online. But PostNL forgot to properly register delivery in their systems so that didn’t work… In other words: basically I was taxed for something they were not even able to demonstrate that it was actually delivered😂 . The PostNL helpdesk explained that all I could do was send a letter to their head offices… in the end I got a 2.36 Euro refund… I left it at that…
A beautiful paper QSL card from Tallinn Radio 2187.5 kHz from Estonia. I received them with a DSC test message and sent my report to tallinnradio@riks.ee . It was my second attempt in trying to QSL them. The station is operated by Riigi Infokommunikatsiooni Sihtasutus (RIKS). This non-commercial entity provides communication services to public institutions and other state-budgeted institutions.
Radio Aktief is a LPAM station from Tilburg. With 50 Watt listed they have a little bit less power than most LPAMs that operate with 100 Watt. At 60 kilometers to the south of my QTH they are still a relatively easy catch. My guess is that last year Smooth Radio got in their way, otherwise I should have picked them up earlier. But Smooth has left AM…
Radio Aktief is built around a very enthusiastic club of technical people and DJs. RadioKidoki is an alternative station ID. They offer a great variety of music styles, so there is a big chance that you will hear something special. I listened to the “Full Experience Show” with a lot of alternative rock, sometimes almost psychedelic.
eQSL from Radio Aktief
I sent my report to contact@radio828.nl . Within a day I received an email and eQSL, and yesterday I received a couple of nice flyers by “snail mail”.
Nice set of Radio Aktief flyers received by regular mail! Thank you!
On my second attempt I received a fully detailed email, with their nice logo, to QSL MRCC Lisboa 2187.5 kHz. I received them acknowledging a DSC test of RoRo ship “Grande Brasile” on its way from Portugal to Senegal. I sent my report to mrcc.lisboa@marinha.pt . Please note that I edited the picture of the QSL email to remove phone numbers etc. for privacy reasons.
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.
Feel free to copy anything on this weblog. I try to provide accurate information, but if I'm wrong: don't blame me! A link back to my site is appreciated when you copy info.
