Tag: The Netherlands (Page 1 of 3)

QSL Radio4Brainport 747 kHz

February 8, 2026 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

I was very pleased to receive Radio4Brainport (or Radio 4 Brainport) on 747 kHz from Eindhoven. After all I did my PhD at Eindhoven University and Eindhoven was where I rented my first own appartment with my the “love of my life”. That’s 40 years ago now.

I sent my report to info@radio4brainport.org and received a reply form Jean-Paul from the radio4brainport@kpnmail.nl address.

Reception was not easy, as at my QTH Radio Emmeloord/Radio Seagull usually have the upper hand with their propagation over the water surface of the IJsselmeer. And since two weeks or so I suffer from a nasty ‘rattle’ on the lower part of the AM. As we are in the midst of moving to a new home, I decided not to spend any time in finding the source of this. Below an audioclip of my reception:

There are quite a few LPAM stations in The Netherlands (check the PE9MJ Radio Babylona site for an up to date list). Among those Radio4Brainport is bit of a special station. As an independent, non-profit, volunteer-run English-language radio station it is serving the international community in the Brainport region around Eindhoven, Netherlands—often called Europe’s leading innovative top technology hub, or the “City of Light.”

Radio 4 Brainport, located at the High Tech Campus, which boasts to be “Europe’s smartest square km and has the ultimate high tech open innovation ecosystem to accelerate your business”

Founded in 2014, the Radio 4 Brainport emerged to address the needs of the area’s large expat population, including professionals, researchers, and families drawn to high-tech companies like ASML, Philips, and numerous startups. It provides a 24/7 mix of music, local and international news, traffic updates during rush hours, and content focused on science, technology, innovation, design, culture, lifestyle, and expat life.

The station’s story reflects a true community effort: volunteers from diverse backgrounds contribute interviews, podcasts, event tips, and reports, fostering a platform where internationals can connect, share experiences, and feel at home. While primarily accessible online via radio4brainport.org, TuneIn, smart speakers, streaming apps and DAB+, the 747 kHz AM frequency offers that nostalgic over-the-air experience in the Brainport area . And many DX-ers from Europe benefit from this as they cannot only receive a Dutch LPAM, but as they broadcast in English you don’t need a Dutch DX-er to help you with the station ID or translation!

QSL Radio Intiem 1008 kHz

December 1, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Radio Intiem is a new LPAM station from the village of Monster near The Hague. They started testing two weeks ago, and are broadcasting with 100 W on Saturday only. Cor Hendriks from Radio Intiem ( radiointiem(at)gmail.com ) confirmed my reception report within a day:

Thanks for your email. We restarted two weeks ago after a 30-year hiatus.
We were a pirate FM station from 1984 to 1995, and now we’re legal on AM.
We broadcast only on Saturdays from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM.
There’s also a stream available; download the My Tuner Radio app.
We’re still in the testing phase.
Greetings from Cor Hendriks of Radio Intiem in Westland.

“You can’t get closer to heaven” is a nice article (in Dutch) about the history of Radio Pirates in Westland, the region with all the greenhouses south of The Hague.

Radio Intiem audio clip November 29th

Radio Intiem wasn’t an easy catch. Normally I have the loop antenna 120/300 degrees for transatlantic reception. But it results in Radio Experience from Wageningen being dominant. I’ve often noticed that reception along the river area in the central part of The Netherlands is pretty good. So I turned the antenna 10/190 to get them at the null. But this favored Radio Transparant from Creil, who also have the benefit that their direction is over the water surface of the IJsselmeer mainly.

QSL Ellen AM 828 kHz

September 27, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A very nice eQSL card from Ellen AM on 828 kHz. Ellen AM is a Low Power AM (100 Watt) station from Hensbroek in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. Ellen AM is named after Ellen, spouse of Edo. They are the owners but also DJ on the station.

A lot of Dutch stations feature a windmill on their QSL, even if their is no one to be found in the neighbourhood. But Ellen AM is really in the heart of windmill country, and the mill shown on the QSL is the Molen Hensbroek.

Chasing LPAM stations is a nice aspect of the hobby. You might think that my QTH is perfectly located in the centre of the Netherlands (JO22kc). But it also means that on most LPAM frequencies there is one nearby dominant station with little opportunity to benefit from variable conditions to catch one of the other ones. My directional loop helps, but not in this case where Ellen AM is north of me and the more dominant Aktief Tilburg exactly opposite to the south. So I made this reception from Almere, halfway between my QTH and Hensbroek..

Ellen AM started in 2020 with a 1 Watt license. They were surprised that with the right condiitons they were audible over quite a distance. But it also meant that in their service area they were vulnerable to interference during evenings/night. That’s why in 2023 they switched to a 100 Watt license operating on 828 kHz. You can read more about the Ellen AM team on their website.

QSL RTW Waddinxveen 105.8 MHz

July 27, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

RTW Waddinxveen is the local radio for Waddinveen, The Netherlands, a village 19 kilometers from my QTH. With 50 Watt they broadcast on 105.8 MHz. i sent my report to info@rtw.nl . Willy Klomp-Koel was so kind to confirm my report:

The first broadcast of RTW Waddinxveen was in 1987. As part of the strategy to move from local to bigger regional radio entities (see my earlier blog) RTW Waddinxveen is cooperating with other local radio stations in RTV Midden Holland.

QSL KBC Huissen 891 kHz

April 9, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

From December 1st, 2024, KBC is active on 891 kHz as a LPAM broadcaster from Huissen, The Netherlands. They succeeded Rivierenland Radio.

I heard them with a program with music from the offshore radio era. It was called “Het Zoute Uur” (The Salty Hour). Reception quality was pretty good (SIO 454) despite their 100 Watt and a distance of 72 kms to my QTH. My report was sent via the webform on their site.

KBC also broadcasts on shortwave to Europe, North America and Australia. Details can be found here.

QSL Polderpop Radio 1134 kHz

February 3, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Yesterday I received a nice e-QSL for Polderpop Radio, a LPAM station from Veldhoven, The Netherlands on 1134 kHz. For details of this station see my previous post about my reception of this station.

QSL Atlantica AM 1485 kHz

January 20, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 3 Comments

There is low power (100 Watts) and “Real Low Power”. 1485 is the “Real Low Power” AM (LPAM) frequency in The Netherland: stations should have 1 Watt maximum. There are around 25 stations active on this frequency. Unfortunately DX-ers in the Netherlands will typically hear one dominant station only. Outside the Netherlands you might be able to benefit from variations in propagation conditions, enabling you to hear several stations.

On my QTH Radio 182, only 15 kilometers away (basically across the meadow) is dominant. But using my NTi Megaloop FX antenna to “null” them out, there is apparently enough of a signal left for Atlantica AM from Dordrecht. On Sundays that is, because I that’s when they are “on air”.

You can check your reception against Flux Radio, because they broadcast the Atlantic AM transmissions as well. If you receive them, feel free to go to the Facebook page of Cor Hitzerd. That’s how I got in touch:

Following my report I had a nice conversation with Cor. He shared quite a lot about his pirate history, his friends on the air, and how they as pirates promoted lots of Dutch artists. The fact that you can connect to station owners is so nice about DX-ing these days! Cor also sent me a few pictures… here we go:

QSL LPAM Radio Elvira 1485 kHz

December 5, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

In The Netherlands the 1485 kHz is reserved for 1 Watt LPAM’s. That should make it an interesting frequency, but despite their low power, Radio 182 from Waddinxveen at 15 kilometers from my QTH is so dominant that it blocks other stations. Their signal probably benefits from a good antenna location and only green fields in between them and me.

So when I visited family in Akersloot I decided to test my new Tecsun PL-368 radio, the one I won during the SWL-2024 contest, on 1485 kHz. I was able to pick up Radio Elvira from Heerhugowaard over a distance of 15 kilometers. Just above noise level at a 2dB SNR (it’s a nice feature that the Tecsun displays this info). They replied with a kind email explaining that for some reason their coverage is only 4-5 kilometres north, but significantly better to the south (where I was receiving them).

Radio Elvira has a nice website where they also post some local news. They advertise as “Radio Elvira 1485 Dijk en Waard”. Dijk the dutch word for dike, and Waard the dutch word for polder.

QSL Cupid Radio 6290 kHz

August 2, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A birthday present! Upon return from a nice birthday dinner I noticed that I was receiving Cupid Radio on 6290 kHz on my SDR receiver. Dropped an email to cupidradio@hotmail.com which was read during the show. The next day I wrote a full report which was answered with a personal email and this nice QSL card.

I was told that they were operating on 15105 towards the US earlier that evening. They moved to 6290 kHz when the band closed, and that’s where I found them playing hard rock music like AC/DC and Kiss. The power is 500 Watts generated by two Russian GU81 tubes… and I like that sort of technology as that is the sort of stuff that got me into radio! This YouTube video gives you a good impression about the size of these things!

Cupid Radio has a very interesting Facebook page… I encourage you all to check it out! They run SSTV as well, albeit mainly on 13 and 19 m…. I would really like to catch one of those!

QSL Citrus AM 1332 kHz

July 5, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

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.