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Tag: Nauen

QSL Welle 370 Das Funkerberg Radio

QSL Welle 370 Funkerberg Radio
QSL card from Welle 370 “Das Funkerberg Radio” via Nauen

A QSL card from Welle 370 “Das Funkerberg Radio”, from Königs Wusterhausen, Germany. I’m not only very pleased to receive an old school QSL card, but this is also a broadcaster that represents a lot of radio history.

As early as 1911 the “Telegrafentruppe” of the “Deutsches Heeres” (German Army) started radio activities from the Funkerberg, just southeast of Berlin. Initially the antennas were raised using balloons, but between 1913 and 1916 impressive antennas and transmitter facilities were built on this location. Soon the facilities were in use for the distribution of telegrams and weather messages. On 22 December 1920 a “Weihnachtskonzert” was broadcast from this location: the start of the “Rundfunk” in Germany. In 1925 there were already 20 transmitters operating from this location.

After WW2 the transmitters were removed from the Funkerberg, but new equipment was also added, including a new 100 kW LW transmitter. It seems that most of the operations ended in the 90-ies with concern for “electro-smog” being quoted as a reason with only an 800 Watt FM station “Sender KW” remaining.

Today Funkerberg is a Museum, a must do for radio enthusiasts. And Welle 370 is still broadcasting from Funkerberg on 810 kHz (370 meter), albeit with only 8 Watts. Given the presence of Radio Scotland on the same frequency that makes it a bit challenging to receive them in the Netherlands. But fortunately they also broadcast their programs from Nauen (as was my reception) and other relay stations.

Welle 370 has very nice programs made by radio enthusiasts with topics on German radio history. I listened to a student who made a program on the competition between radio and record companies. Please follow them on their website and tune in to their programs!

QSL NDR “Gruß an Bord”

A rare opportunity to get a paper QSL from a main European broadcaster on shortwave: the NDR “Gruß an Bord” program. It is a special program that is being broadcast by the Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR) on Christmas Eve.

Paper QSL from NDR for their “Gruß an Bord” Christmas program

As they write on their website (where you can also listen back to the 2023 program):

This year “Greetings on Board” celebrates its 70th anniversary. The traditional NDR program was broadcast for the first time on Christmas Eve 1953. So that ships on the world’s oceans can receive the broadcast, NDR rents additional shortwave frequencies.
The series is a bridge between seafarers who travel the world’s oceans and their relatives in Germany. The sailors send greetings home. Families and friends wish them a happy holiday at sea or in distant ports.

Apart from the paper QSL I really enjoyed this program for a number of reasons.

First of all this program was brought from the “Hamburger Duckdalben“. The Duckdalben is the International Seaman’s Mission in Hamburg. There is a lot to be told about the good work they do, please visit their site to learn more. They had a significant role during the Covid-19 episode. This had a huge impact on sailors as they couldn’t travel back home to their families for months, as was discussed in the program.

Celebrating it’s 70th anniversary, the design of the program takes you back to the old days. There was no satellite. Shortwave radio was the only way to connect sailors and their beloved ones at home. And I can’t say it better than the “Gruß an Bord” team does:

The emotional, melancholic but also happy messages from the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children of our sailors reflect the life that continues, at home and on board. And this connection between the two, this bridge between land and sea is needed – today just as much as it was 70 years ago!

I vividly remember how Radio Nederland had similar programs for Dutch people abroad when they were still active on shortwave!

Three transmitter sites, three countries verified on one QSL!

Another reason why I enjoyed this program is because my dad (who passed away two years ago) was an engineer – “machinist” – on merchant ships of the KNSM, The “Royal Dutch Shipping Company”. For my Dutch readers: it was also referred to as “Kleine Nietige Scheepjes Maatschappij” according to my dad. In the 50’s of the previous century he made many trips to the Caribbean and the Mediterranean seas, but also to Hamburg. The “Reeperbahn” was one of the first streets abroad that I heard about as a 6 year old kid. But it took me another 10 years to find out what the Reeperbahn was really all about 😜!

I understand that for many years this program was broadcast via Norddeich Radio, a former German coastal station. I have a QSL for one of their USB transmissions on MF, see below.
These days NDR rents time with some of the few major transmitting stations that are still active on shortwave. My QSL was for Issoudun, Nauen and Tashkent. The latter one is nice. I do have QSLs from Uzbekistan from the past, but it is the first QSL from this country that I can add to this blog which I started after my return to the DX hobby.

1980s QSL of Norddeich Radio, a former coastal radio station in Germany

Let’s hope that they will continue this tradition, looking forward to their 71st program this year!

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