The wonderful world of listening to the radio
Yesterday I wrote about the reactivation of Galei Zahal on 1287 and 945 kHz. In the evening hours both frequencies could be received very well here in The Netherlands. This morning the QSL for Galei Zahal 1287 kHz showed up in my email box. Galei Zahal (or Galatz) is the radio station of the IDF (Israeli Army).
The transmitter on 1287 kHz is located in She’ar Yashuv, in the North of Israel, only 3 kilometers away from the border with Lebanon.
Galei Zahal from Israel has reactivated their medium wave transmitter on 1287 kHz (50/100 kW), and there are also reports that 945 kHz is active. Galei Zahal is the broadcasting station of the Israeli Army IDF. It’s also abbreviated as “Galatz”.
I only tried briefly to receive this station this morning as I was busy with finishing the Collective Listening Event 299 on NDBs. The local LPAM station Kilrock on 1287 kHz was dominating the frequency. But guess what? They sent a message in response to listeners complaining about interference in the evening, explaining that it was Galei Zahal causing the issue. Check this YouTube recording of the Kilrock message (in Dutch obviously).
In 1999 I received Galei Zahal on 6895 kHz, for which I received a QSL. But for more than a decade they have been active on FM only.
UPDATE: received the station today (3JAN24) on 1287 kHz, around 17:30 h UTC, fading in/out over local LPAM Kilrock, up to near perfect quality. Later in the evening also audible on 945 kHz, here well over Radio Romania Actualitati.
A nice surprise at the end of this year was this traditional QSL card for my reception of SAH Bjuröklubb with a NAVTEX message on 518 kHz. With 1656 km this is the most distant station from the three NAVTEX stations in Sweden. The other two SAA Gislovhammer and SAS Varberg are just over 700 km away.
Unfortunately, the location Bjuröklubb was not indicated on my QSL. And I don’t think it is hidden below the stickers that Post NL apparently needed to put all over the card ☹️. I sent my report to swedentraffic@sjofartsverket.se . Please note that JRCC Göteborg is responsible for DSC safety watch.
After 50 (!) weeks I received this scanned letter from Radio Timișoara for my reception of their broadcast on 630 kHz. The email was sent by Dana Florea, “Redactor” and “Marketing-Publicate”. Attached were some nice photo’s of Timișoara as well. Email address: office@radiotimisoara.ro
For more information about this station please check my post on the Radio Timișoara QSL I received via the English desk of Radio Romania International a few weeks ago.
Personally I still struggle a bit with the use of random KiwiSDRs to collect QSLs. But propagation conditions are poor these days. On top of that all the festive lighting doesn’t help the noise level. And the KiwiSDR I used is owned by the Medium Wave Circle I recently joined. Located in Scotland it still counts as Transatlantic DX. Plenty of excuses 😀…
On 1580 kHz I received CKDO from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. I happened to tune in to a program presented by Gary Berarde, who is also music director at CKDO. So I decided to sent Gary an email. He was so kind to answer in a few days and says that they welcome DX reports!
CKDO is a 10 kW station located in Oshawa, just east of Toronto, at Lake Ontario. The station is owned by Durham Radio Inc., and not broadcasting from nearby Durham but from Oshawa. It targets the eastern part of the Greater Toronto Area with classic hits and oldies.
A nice fully detailed email confirmation of my reception of MRCC Bilbao, Spain, on 2187.5 kHz. I sent them both an email (2nd attempt to bilbao@sasemar.es ) and a letter. From the answer I guess that it was the letter that made it to the control room.
Whereas Valencia, Coruna and Las Palmas Radio are frequently heard with DSC messages, the MRCCs seem less active on MF. There are quite a few of them though, but the ITU list indicates a presence on VHF/UHF only. Classaxe however shows five stations that were logged on 2187.5 kHz in recent years: Finisterre, Tarifa, Gijon, Valencia and Bilbao. The first two are most frequently heard apparently.
The various reports I sent to the English desk of Radio Romania International on my reception of regional stations were all answered politely. A great service. They promised to send me a QSL, but they were changing to a new e-QSL policy. In November their e-QSLs became available, and yes, I received all of them in one email:
See also my previous posts for details on these stations:
Radio Oltenia Craiova, 1314 kHz
Radio Timisoara, 630 kHz
Marosvásárhelyi Radio, 1323 kHz
Antena Satelor, 1314 kHz
Via Stian Tveit, QSL manager at Kystradio Sør, I got this informative QSL letter for my reception of Ørlandet Radio at 518 kHz, I sent my report to kystradio.sor@telenor.no, but you can also send your reports directly to stian.tveit@telenor.no. Mind you, Kystradio Sør is only responsible for stations below 65N. The more northern stations are responsibility of Kystradio Nord.
Orlandet Radio, callsign LFO is one of three stations that broadcast NAVTEX information on 490 and 518 kHz. The others are Jeloya and Rogaland Radio, all controlled from Kystradio Sør.
UPDATE: what is known as Jeloya (letter M) is actually located in Tjome/Horten and should be referred to as Tjome Radio. Rogaland (L) and Orlandet (N) are still – albeit remotely operated – separate transmitter sites. See also comments below. (Thanks to Stian Tveit from Telenor).
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.
My third QSL from a French CROSS station. This email confirms my reception of CROSS Étel from Bretagne. They can be easily received here in The Netherlands. Though not as frequent as the CROSS Gris-Nez and CROSS Jobourg stations who are situated along the very busy Channel. Jerôme Christ was so kind to send me the QSL a few hours after I sent my report.
I found a nice picture on the internet showing the service areas of the various CROSS stations in France, 5 main ones (in red) and the sub-station on Corsica (Corse):
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