The first QSL of the 2024/25 Transatlantic season. I heard CJMR from Oakville, Ontaria, Canada with nice Indian music. Again the Shazam app was a great aid in identifying the songs. I sent my report via their web form. Mrs. Paige Dent, Director of Engineering, was so kind to confirm my reception:
I already noticed that CJMR has the same postal address as CJYE 1250 “Joy Radio”, and it was Mrs. Dent who signed my PPC last time. So I did sent a PPC to CJMR as well, and do hope that she will sign again. And do note they apparently have plans to acquire CKTB 610 AM as well!
CJMR brands itself as “The Voice of the City” and as a multicultural station they are broadcasting in 15 different languages.
And yes I do know there are perfectly good opportunities for Transatlantic DX in summer, most of all towards South America, but I like the seasonal notion for North American reception.
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
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 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.
A QSL for Muravidéki Magyar Rádió, a local station serving the Hungarian minority in the north east of Slovenia. I heard them with IDs as Muravidéki Magyar Rádio and “MMR” and Hungarian music on 558 kHz. The 25 kW transmitter location seems to be shared with Radio Murski Val on 648 kHz broadcasting in Slovenian. I sent my report to mmr@rtvslo.si and received an email reply within a day.
Self prepared card with the Muravidéki Magyar Rádió email as QSL.
Muravideki basically means “across the Mur”. The Muravideki region is situated north east of the river Mur which flows from Austria to Croatia/Hungary. I understand that the ethnic Slovenes have always been the majority of the people living in the region which is called Prekmurje in Slovenian language. But there has also always been a Hungarian minority, and for centuries the region was part of the Habsburg empire. In the chaos after WW1 there was briefly a Republic of Prekmurje until in 1919 the region was made part of what was ultimately Yugoslavia. Slovenia became independent in 1991.
The river Mur cuts of the north east part of Slovenia. Muravidéki Magyar Rádió means “Hungarian Radio across the River Mur”
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…
Citrus AM on 918 kHz is, if only because of the name, a station I wanted to receive. But it is virtually impossible to receive this station at my QTH. Initially Monique 918 AM dominated the frequency, and when they left the frequency Sitara from nearby Houten ramped up their power. When we spent some time at Luttenberg for a dog event, I was able to listen to this station. I sent my report to info@citrus-am.nl. Four months later I received this beautiful QSL… Bear in mind, Citrus AM is a hobby station, so I don’t blame them for taking some time.
The Netherlands is a pretty flat country. But there are still factors that influence propagation. I already noticed that LPAM stations in the central part of the Netherlands where three big rivers and polders set the scenery are received very well. But between Emst (the QTH of Citrus AM) only 80 kms away and my location the Veluwe, a sandy ridge 80 meters high, is pretty effective in blocking local AM signals.
Citrus AM is truly a hobby broadcaster. Currently they are operating from a – as Erik from Citrus AM describes – fairly simple AM frequency generator with amplifier. Their provisional antenna is relatively short and will be replaced in future.
Thanks to my friend Artur from Maresme DX I got a promising contact address at Radio Koper-Capodistria from Slovenia. My report from April for the reception of their program on 1170 kHz was answered after 10 weeks with this beautiful paper QSL card (front and back).
A nice paper QSL card from Radio Koper – Capodistria, Slovenia
From all the medium wave QSLs I collected in the 80ies, Radio Capodistria is one of the few stations still left on medium wave. But according to a recent post on Ydun’s Mediumwave Info the continuation of medium wave operations might be at jeopardy. Below you can see the QSL I received almost 44 years ago, with “Koper” pennant and car stickers. At the time Slovenia was still part of Yugoslavia.
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. A link back to my site is appreciated.
