"It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on" - Marilyn Monroe
I picked up COPE Palencia during the sporadic E opening on July 20th with their local ID on 105.1 MHz. With 2 kW they are broadcasting from Monte Viejo to the south of the city of Palencia in Spain.
Manuel Lobejón, editor at COPE Palencia was so kind to reply with a fully detailed email confirming my reception. I sent my report to palencia@cope.es .
In the audio file you hear the annoucement of the network program “Fin de Semana” presented by Cristina Lópex Schlichting and the local ID.
Whereas it is always nice to hear and receive a QSL from a local outlet of one of the bigger networks in Spain, getting a smaller local radio station with a single transmitter confirmed is even more special.
During the very good Sporadic E opening on July 20th I received Radio Chinchilla, the local radio station for Chinchilla de Montearagón (Albacete) in Spain. They are broadcasting with 500 Watts and again I’m flabbergasted with the quality of the reception. During 20 minutes I was able to listen to a program called “The Story de Kylie Minogue”. Unfortunately they did fade out before I heard an ID:
My report to rchinformativos@gmail.com was confirmed with a brief email reply within a day:
Radio Chinchilla began broadcasting in December 1988. According to Wikipedia it has one of the highest audiences. Most of the programming it offers is self-produced, including news, music, sports, entertainment… It has its own news services and broadcasts 24 hours a day.
I didn’t know the small city of Chinchilla de Montearagón which has a population of 4600. But it is one of these beautiful Spanish towns with lots of history!
A very nice QSL letter from Jennifer Bath at NAV Canada for my reception of NDB YMH Mary’s Harbour on 250 kHz, 4012 kms away from my home location. It was not the first Canadian NDB that I received at my location (that was CA-281 Cartwright), but it is my first QSL. Thanks to Wolf, DE2WHG, for giving me the address tip.
To my surprise I wasn’t only able to receive this signal during summer, but also in pretty good quality as you can see on the picture below. I have to admit that with 1000 Watt the transmitter power is higher than most European beacons. And Roelof Bakker – and experienced NDB DX-er – told me that indeed this beacon is often stronger in summer than CA from Cartwright.
Mary’s Harbour Airport (YMH) is a small airport in Canada with domestic flights only, operated solely by Provincial Airlines (PAL Airlines). There are two non-stop destinations from Mary’s Harbour: Blanc-Sablon (YBX) and St. Lewis (YFX), each with around 9 flights per month.
The airport has one gravel runway and limited facilities. And no internet presence, so this is the best picture I could find:
RTV Slingeland is the local radio station for Winterswijk. They broadcast on 105 MHz with 100 Watt. Peter van der Wel was so kind to confirm my report.
On the internet I learned that RTV Slingeland became been part of 1Achterhoek. 1Achterhoek Radio was a merger between Gelre FM, A-FM (from Aalten) and what was then called Slingeland FM. Leuk FM is now also part of 1Achterhoek. One of the reasons was that stand alone operation became to costly. And the merger is in line with the Dutch strategy to move from local to fewer regional radio stations.
But already in 2023 RTV Slingeland left 1Achterhoek following a dispute over program content. Apparently they are looking for other partners now. RTV Slingeland is named after the little river Slinge, south of Winterswijk.
Not my first QSL of this station. I received one earlier in 2023. But there is no harm in sending an additional report to a station that keeps a tradition alive. I heard them during the Easter weekend. As last time the QSL was part of a lengthy PDF with lots of history… I sent my report to wmrscotland@mail.com and got a reply after 16 weeks. Hey, it’s a hobby after all, so things can take a bit of time.
Like last year the German service of Radio Taiwan International ran a few test transmissions to find the best frequencies for their summer broadcasts from Tamsui. My reception report to deutsch@rti.org.tw was awarded with a beautiful QSL that arrived 6 weeks later by mail.
I received Leuk FM from Zieuwent with 32 Watts on 106.9 FM when visiting Winterswijk. Leuk FM is the local radio for Aalten/Berkelland. Sven Dimmendaal confirmed my report, stating that Leuk FM is now part of 1Achterhoek. There is a little bit more to say about 1Achterhoek, but that’s for another post.
During a visit to Winterswijk, a village located near the border with Germany, I was able to listen to Radio WMW, broadcasting from Bocholt on 88.4 MHz. Benjamin Rotzler was so kind to confirm my report.
The abbreviation WMW stands for West Münsterland Welle. Radio WMW is one of 45 local radio stations in Nordrhein-Westfalen under the umbrella of Radio NRW. NRW provides programs to these local radiostations when they don’t have their own broadcasts scheduled. Pretty efficient!
There are 4 transmitters. I received the 1 kW transmitter from Bocholt, the transmitter in Borken on 97.6 is also 1 kW. The other two frequencies are 500 W.
A QSL for NDB AV on 414 kHz, located 8 km from Asturias Airport near Aviles, in line with the only runway. Aviles is a small harbour town situated on the north coast of Spain in the Asturias region.
On the data sheet that Enaire sent with the confirmation it looks like one of the antenna towers is crooked. Not sure what to think of it, I don’t see it on the Googlemaps Streetview pic:
Asturias Airport sees close to 2 mln passengers a year, with domestic flights but also quite a few scheduled international flights to other European countries.
My reception, as always, was confirmed by informacion@enaire.es .
The QSL for NDB VTA on 345 kHz for Vitoria Airport in Spain revealed that it has a different antenna set-up from other Enaire beacons. In the info sheet I got as a QSL it shows what they call a “Sistema radiante de tipo margarita” (which refers to the daisy flower not the cocktail 😉) as opposed to most Enaire beacons that have a dipole: “Sistema radiante de tipo T”.
Vitoria-Gasteiz airport seems a modest airport in terms of passenger traffic with only a few Ryanair destinations abroad. But it is the 4th cargo airport in Spain.
My report was again confirmed by the folks of ENAIRE via informacion@enaire.es. A big thank you for providing me with all these details!
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