Back to my exploration of the local radio scene around Woerden. Today I listened to Rick FM, the local radio station for Uithoorn and De Kwakel. Marco from Rick FM was so kind to reply to my reception report.
Rick FM is owned by Stichting Radio RIK. I couldn’t find where the acronym RIK stands for. What I do know is that Rick FM started some 40 years ago as pirate radio station Radio Cyclus in De Kwakel. Which is not uncommon.
Like many other stations Rick FM is professionalizing and at the same time has to safe costs. So it is cooperating with 4 other stations in the area:
I really wanted to get a QSL from Radio Eule München as this station ticks so many boxes. It is low power (only 10 Watt), from abroad and with 648 kms at quite a bit of distance given its power. But more importantly, it is an initiative of enthusiastic people at the Deutsches Museum in Munich who want to promote technology to get young people interested. It wasn’t easy though to receive this one as 1500 kHz is a frequency on which I always experience heavy pulsating noise as if it was digitial communication (source unknown). And this winter, when conditions were favourable, WFED from Washington was often stronger. I even heard Radio Santa Rosa from Peru before I caught Radio Eule. So maybe this is one of these stations that are easier to catch in summer?
eQSL Radio Eule 1500 kHz
Luise Allendorf-Hoefer, Dipl.-Ing., Kuratorin Nachrichtentechnik und Elektronik (Curator News Technology and Electronics) at the Deutsches Museum was so kind to confirm my report. Luise is also HAM radio amateur under DL4LA. The Deutsches Museum website has a nice page dedicated to this station including a clip on how to build your own AM receiver! Munich is a city worth visiting I can tell you, and while you are there, spend some time at this museum as Germany has a technology tradition more than any other European country.
One of the stations I heard during my stay on Curacao earlier this year was LS6 Radio Buenos Aires on 1350 kHz. Yes, with 50 kW this is one of the stronger stations in South America, but I was still very pleased to hear this one over 5300 km on my small Tecsun PL368 with standard antenna. Radio Buenos Aires has been received in the Netherlands as well, so that’s my next goal. So far Radio Z100 Milano has prevented me from doing so.
email to QSL my reception of LS6 Radio Buenos Aires
As my emails to the address advertised on the Radio Buenos Aires website bounced I asked my radio friend Néstor Damián Fischetto if he knew a contact. Which is how I learned that mr. González might confirm my report. Thank you so much Néstor, and of course thank you mr. González.
I don’t have a lot of information about the history of Radio Buenos Aires. LS6 is their call sign and according to Wikipedia the station was active under various names before it was acquired by Radiodifusora Esmeralda S.A in 1999. As a significant portion of this company is owned by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (a Brazilian entity), there is some controversy as Argentinian law apparently prohibits foreign religious organizations to own media licenses… The program I listened to was neutral, with popular music and news.
Radio Aalsmeer, a local FM radiostation, is only 23 kilometers away from my QTH. But on 105.9 MHz it sits exactly between Radio Ronde Venen on 106.MHz (8 kms away) and RTW FM on 105.8 MHz (18 kms away). Both are quite a bit stronger here. Fortunately SDR console allows to limit the bandwidth to 0.1 MHz and while it did compromise quality a bit it wasn’t difficult to receive Radio Aalsmeer.
I sent my report to info info@radioaalsmeer.nl . Elbert who is secretary of the station and also works at the news desk was so kind to confirm my reception.
The Studio’s Aalsmeer building
Radio Aalsmeer is broadcasting from the studios of Joop van den Ende, the famous Dutch media producer who founded Endemol and Stage Entertainment. He bought the former flower auction site and transformed it to Studio’s Aalsmeer. And that’s where it all started.
Since I resumed the hobby I spent quite a bit of time on maritime DX (DSC mode) and NDBs. But I didn’t do as much on HF Aero. So time to see what’s going on the aero-bands. I did already a couple of SelCal decodes (so nice that we have programs like MultiPSK that allow us to do so) when I discovered HFDL.
I first heard Shannon. On audio the pattern is a brief tone, and then a data burst, as in this audio clip. Using the Klingenfuss guide I started to look for other frequencies, decoded with MutliPSK, and got some Auckland decodes.
Receiving something from New Zealand is always nice, but what about a QSL? I decided to contact Airways New Zealand. Todd, who is operations team lead at Airways told me that they were truly interested in my reception, it wasn’t Auckland Radio that I heard (as they are responsible for voice), but he could confirm I received the HF data link from Auckland.
Meanwhile I’ve learned a little bit more about HFDL. Apparently it is a service called ACARS (Aircraft Communications and Reporting System) initially developed by ARINC (Aeronautical Radio Incorporated). ARINC is now part of Collins Aerospace. UDXF offers a nice information sheet about this service that allows aircraft to exchange date via a ground station with their operators.
Apparently there are 16 ground stations that provide HFDL. I’ve heard Hat Yai, Telde (Canarias), Shannon and Auckland by now. The beauty is that via this digital technique aircraft can for example broadcast their position in 2 seconds, something which would take 1 minute by voice. And during high solar activity periods the digital mode of communication proved to be much more reliable for aircraft flying over polar regions in particular.
San Francisco, CA, USA Molokai, HWA, USA Reykjavik, Iceland Riverhead, New York, USA Auckland, New Zealand Hat Yai, Thailand Shannon, Ireland Johannesburg, South Africa Barrow, Alaska, USA Muan, South Korea Albrook, Panama Santa Cruz, Bolivia Krasnoyarsk, Russia Al Muharraq, Bahrain Agana, Guam Canarias, Spain
Now I fully understand that I’m just a beginner in this field. So if you have additions, corrections, just let me know by leaving a reply in the comments. Thank you!
An e-QSL with lots of details from Moonair Radio, a Free Radio station from Central Europe. DJ Mike is from Holland, and the show I listened to was mainly in Dutch, but from the announcements made it was clear the the location is not in The Netherlands, but somewhere in “Central Europe”. I will not disclose the location, but given the distance I am surprised about the signal strength given an output power of only 250 W. Must be a decent antenna! And I understand why there was a bit of fading.
Mike also shared a nice video of the studio and transmitter equipment. Apparently he is also the operator of Radio Magdalena, a station that broadcasts in AM-stereo.
My reception of Mustang Radio on 6280 kHz, a Free Radio station from the east part of the Netherlands was confirmed with a kind email reply by station owner Herman.
About a week after the email bij Herman he sent me the beautiful QSL card!
e-QSL from Radio WDR “Radio from the Bottom of the Sea”
An e-QSL from Radio WDR. No not the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, but Radio WDR on 5800 kHz, a Free Radio station from the Netherlands. One of their slogans is “Radio from the Bottom of the Sea”, which might imply that their QTH is what used to be the former Zuiderzee.
A program I hadn’t heard before on Channel 292, Germany is SoundBox Radio. On Friday night they broadcast a nice mix of Disco music on 6070 kHz. My reception report was awarded with an e-QSL and a friendly email in a day.
Last weekend Key Channel Radio, broadcasting from Emilia Romagna, Italy, was on air on 6270 kHz. Massimo, who operates the station was so kind to give me a heads up warning. Reception wasn’t easy as propagation conditions were poor and there was quite a bit of noise/interference which required them to change frequency a few times.
Massimo sent me the beautiful e QSL, a friendly email and some photo’s of the stunning scenery in Emilia Romagna:
Dear Peter, thanks for your valuable listening report. In the end you listened to us too. Tough evening, stanag, CW all active. Yes we changed the frequency 4 times. KCR has been broadcasting since January 2016 from a location on the hills of the Emilian Apennines. We use a commercial transmitter with a maximum power of 400 W (in use 250 W) and a self-built Morgain 48/88 Antenna. There are three of us who manage it, I take care of the technical part, programs. My girlfriend takes care of important statistics on listeners and small studies on propagation. A dear friend of ours takes care of the graphics, the promos and QSLs are her creations. We are an open radio, we have collaborated with several German Pirate Radios, Doctor Tim, Radio BZN and more. Now we collaborate with Radio Monique, Bart even made a broadcast and several Jingles for us. (Pirate for Peace Member).
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.
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