Another nice QSL from a local radio station in The Netherlands. This time from BR6, the local station for Bodegraven & Reeuwijk. John Bekker was so kind to confirm my reception report. He wrote that they have no QSLs, but in thThey have been heard as far as Wolfsburg, Germany, which isn’t bad given their power of only 50 Watts.
BR6 is also part of the RTV Midden Holland group (see my post on RTV Krimpenerwaard). Their antenna is located on an advertising column in an industrial park in the south of Bodegraven. Just over 10 kms from my QTH!
I hate these ugly advertising columns, but if you put a radio antenna on it, I can live with it😉
By the way… did you know that Bodegraven, like my own QTH Woerden is situated along the old river Rhine? Which was once the northern frontier, the “Limes” of the Roman Empire…
Best kept secret in The Netherlands is the beautiful Alblasserwaard. Even on public holidays the roads are quiet, perfect for cycling through a classic Dutch Polder scenery…
I heard Klokradio the local FM station in the Alblasserwaard on 107 MHz with 200 Watts from the village of Molenaarsgraaf. The distance is only 24 kilometers, but reception was a bit compromised with RPL FM from my home QTH on the adjacent 107.1 MHz.
Kees from the Technical Department (who is a HAM operator) was so kind to send me a detailed confirmation email:
Dear Peter,
We hereby confirm your receipt on April 10, 2025, 5:34 PM from Klokradio on 107.0 MHz.
Thank you for your message. It is always nice for us to hear where we can be received. Klokradio is the local broadcaster of Alblasserdam and Molenlanden in the Alblasserwaard. We started our broadcasts on December 15, 1990 and have existed for 35 years this year.
Because we have a large broadcasting area, we now use three transmitters/antennas. One antenna is on a flat in Alblasserdam (97.3 MHz) and the other two in Molenaarsgraaf (107.0 and 92.1 MHz). Attached is a photo of the mast in Molenaarsgraaf. The two horizontally stacked antennas at the top left are for 107 MHz, the yagi opposite for 92.1 MHz. The lower yagi is a receiving antenna for 97.3 MHz, which receives the signal from Alblasserdam and transmits it again on the other two frequencies. In this way we do not have delays when switching between the three frequencies (via RDS in the car). A bit complicated, but that is the disadvantage of a large, elongated service area. In addition, some pictures that you might like.
We transmit 24 hours a day, but because we work with volunteers, a large part of that time is filled by “the computer”. The broadcast that you heard was one of our live presented programs.
Of course I looked at your website; nice to read what equipment you (have) used. Thanks again and good luck with the hobby, 73’s.
Kind regards, Kees (PE1NAC)
Klokradio Techniek
The antenna with the two Klokradio Yagi’s
The municipality Alblasserwaard with the two antenna locations
It’s April… and I’ve a bit of a feeling this is the Doldrum season for us DX-ers. Winter propagation conditions on mediumwave are behind us. During sunny days the solar panel interference makes DX on MF/HF nearly impossible, and regular SpE conditions on FM are still at least a month away…
But radio is never boring, there is always something to look into. So I thought it might not a be a bad idea to spend some time this year in scanning the FM band for local radio. After all it is almost 50 years after local radio was legalized in The Netherlands.
Following the demise of offshore radio stations like Veronica and Noordzee, the government of The Netherlands allowed some experiments with local radio. And the band between 100 and 108 MHz was empty… except for pirate stations taking the opportunity (but that’s a story for another blog). Between 1984 and 1988 there was an “explosion” of local FM radio stations in The Netherlands. Mind you, in those days internet was not available to the public, and both city councils and entrepreneurs saw this as a must have and an opportunity to connect with a local audience.
QSL email from RTV Krimpenerwaard 106.6 FM, a local FM station in “my backyard”
40 years later it seems that a lot of these stations have merged, just as the municipalities they served merged into larger entities. RTV Krimpenerwaard is a good example. In 1989/1990 I received Radio Vrolek (from Nederlek), Radio Vlistam (from Vlist/Stolwijk) and Radio Bergambacht. Together with Radio Zilverstad from Schoonhoven they merged into RTV Krimpenerwaard… just like these villages (and of course, Schoonhoven is a “stad”) merged into the municipality Krimpenerwaard.
Coverage area of RTV Krimpenerwaard… one of the most beautiful areas in The Netherlands, called “Groene Hart” (Green Heart).
The interesting thing is that it doesn’t seem to stop here. If you browse for the website of RTV Krimpenerwaard you end up on the website of RTV Midden Holland, a cooperation between local radio stations in the region we refer to as “Het Groene Hart”. Including my own home town radio “RPL FM” in Woerden. Definitely professional, up to date… but also more and more regional radio rather than local radio… Should we fear this is a bit like what happened to Indepent Local Radio in the UK, with all these stations being bought by “Smooth” or “Gold” making them commercial regional stations rather than stations serving a local community? Your views?
Below the QSLs I got from VROLEK, VlistAM, and Studio Bergambacht…
I don’t think that there are many examples of regional stations which target an audience in two countries? But feel free to drop a comment if you know one. Anyway, Radio Seefunk, or better Das Neue Radio Seefunk is tuned into by some 147000 German and 35000 Swiss listeners.
Email from Radio Seefunk to confirm my reception
The station started as a local radio for the city of Konstanz under the name Seefunk Radio Bodensee. Today they have 13 transmitters across the south of Baden Württemberg in Germany. Rebranded to Das Neue Radio Seefunk in 2019 they bring music from “Vier Jahrzehnten” (4 decades) targeting an 30+ audience.
I received them while staying near Ulm. Mr. Grunewald was so kind to confirm my report sent to redaktion(at)radio-seefunk.de .
Another station from Südtirol that I heard during my holiday in the beautiful Ahrntal. Like Radio Holiday the station covers the valleys of Südtirol with multiple low power transmitters. Radio 2000 has 20 of them. Where the valleys are wider as is the case near the capital of Südtirol Bozen (Bolzano) power is a few kilowatts. But the transmitter I received in Luttach has only 200 Watt. If you know the area it is no surprise that Luttach is chosen as location because it is where the river Ahr makes a 90o turn. From Luttach it possible to cover entrance and “Talschluss” of the Tauferer Ahrntal.
Coverage area of the 200W Radio 2000 transmitter in Luttach
I sent my report to info(at)radio2000.it and got a direct reply from Mr. Lukas Thaler.
Not to be confused with Antenne Vorarlberg, Radio Vorarlberg is the regional station of the ORF, the national public broadcaster of Austria. I heard Radio Vorarlberg while staying in Altenstadt near Ulm (Germany). 98.2 MHz is the main transmitter with 50 kW from Bregenz. Other frequencies (with the exception of the 4 kW transmitter at Bludenz) are mostly relays with less than 100 Watts of power.
There is a webform on the site to contact the Vorarlberg station as well as other regional stations. But as I wanted to include a picture I sent my report to kundendienst(at)orf.at which got forwarded to the Vorarlberg team. From them I learned you could als use this address: publikum.vorarlberg(at)orf.at
Another souvenir from my favourite holiday destination Südtirol: email to QSL my reception of Radio Holiday on 99.6 MHz (Luttach, Italy). They cover South Tirol with 14 transmitters ranging in power between 20 and 1000 Watt only. I guess that in these mountainous regions line of sight requirements result in more antennes rather than high transmitter power.
I heard them in Steinhaus in the beautiful Ahrntal, only 6 kilometers away. So not really DX, but as a said: a nice holiday souvenir for a station that is very difficult to receive, if at all, in The Netherlands. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
Email QSL for Radio Holiday from Südtirol
Coverage map op Radio Holiday Südtirol (source: FM Scan)
At a distance of around 600 kilometers from my home QTH FM stations in the southern part of Germany are difficult if not impossible to catch. They are too close for Sporadic E. But also out of range for Tropospheric DX, particularly when transmitter power is relatively low, as is the case for Hitradio RT1. So I took the opportunity to listen to them while I was visiting the area.
Email QSL for Hitradio RT1 Memmingen
Hitradio RT1 has 10 FM transmitters in the Schwaben region in Germany, west of Munich. Power varies between 0.1 and 0.3 kW, with one station at 1 kW. They carry separate local programs for the city of Augsburg, Neuburg, Nordschwaben and Südschwaben. I received the latter one while in Altenstadt, 28 km away. I sent my report to the local station: info@rt1-suedschwaben.de . Markus Sampl replied within a day.
A very friendly but also a bit of an odd email to QSL my reception of SWR DasDing on 98.9 MHz. DasDing (“The Thing”) is the youth radio station of the Südwest Rundfunk, the commercial free radio for the Bundesländer (“States”) Rheinland-Pfalz (Rheinland Palatinate) and Baden-Württemberg in Germany. I heard the station during an overnight stay in Altenstadt, 28 kilometers away from the location of the 1 kW transmitter near Ulm.
Tina from DasDing wrote:
“Actually we are only broadcasting in Baden-Württemberg und Rheinland-Pfalz. But it could be that you have received the 98.9 transmitter from Ulm”.
My reception location was about a kilometer across the border in neighbouring Bavaria. Oh oh these naughty radio waves: propagating to where they are not supposed to go… 😂 . Thank you Tina for the confirmation!
I received Antenne Vorarlberg while staying in Altenstadt near Ulm, Germany. With a distance of 77 kilometers that is apparently just within the coverage area of the powerful 50 kW Antenne Vorarlberg transmitter located near Bregenz in Austria. This is their main transmitter, the other 7 ones are mere repeaters.
I listened to “Party-Mix mit Enrico Ostendorf”. Nicole was so kind to confirm my report sent to service(at)antennevorarlberg.at .
My reception location Altenstadt was exactly on the border of the coverage area
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