Radio Bangladesh and
Bangladesh Betar
বাংলাদেশ বেতার

The two QSL cards below are from the external service of the Bangladesh broadcasting organization. Between 1975 and 1996 it was known as Radio Bangladesh and since 1996 it has been called Bangladesh Betar (বাংলাদেশ বেতার). They are a bit difficult to hear in North America, but when conditions are good, they can be heard with reasonable signals.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The use of the logo above is to serve as the primary means of visual identification at the top of the article dedicated to the entity in question.

Radio Abidjan
Ivory Coast
Côte d’Ivoire

Radio Abidjan for many years was a fairly regular fixture on the shortwave bands. In recent decades, the transmissions became more and more sporadic. When they made it to my radio listening post in 1986 on 11920 kHz, they aired an English language broadcast from the UN. There are reports of them transmitting on shortwave as recently as 2008 identifying as Radio Côte d’Ivoire.

Deutsche Welle
Germany

Deutsche Welle (or German Wave translated into English) (DW) is Germany’s international public broadcaster. DW’s first shortwave broadcast took place on 3 May 1953. Over the years, DW broadcast programs in 42 languages over shortwave. In recent years, DW has moved most of its programming off from shortwave to satellite.

DW sent the QSL cards for 19 transmitter sites below for my reception reports. (Scroll down to view QSL cards)

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The use of the logo above is to serve as the primary means of visual identification at the top of the article dedicated to the entity in question.

HLKT 810 AM
MBC
Taegu, Korea

HLKT is the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation outlet for Daegu (Taegu), South Korea. The frequency of 810 kHz in South Korea is tough because of interference from the co-channel North Korean Korean Central Broadcasting System station and the South Korean jamming. AFN in Tokyo, Japan is also problematic. I managed to hear them one morning in Gunsan (Kunsan) when things are quiet. They replied with this QSL card for my reception report.

The Korean text on the card translates to “Thank you very much for your reception report. As a result of confirmation without error, we send you a verification of reception.”

WWJ 950 AM
Detroit, Michigan

Finally! An answer from WWJ 950 AM Detroit, Michigan. Over the years, I have sent at least four reports to WWJ without an answer. Well, in January I heard them well enough for yet another report. Today, the QSL letter below was waiting in our mailbox. WWJ can boom into Maryland after my local on 950 powers down and before WWJ goes to their night pattern. WWJ is a pioneer broadcaster that first came on the air in the early 1920’s, and they are still going strong. Thank you to Rob Davidek Program/News Director for sending this verification. As Mr. Davidek notes, the station is located in Southfield, Michigan and not in the city of license of Detroit.

KDLG 670 AM
Dillingham, Alaska

Here is another Alaskan station that I heard over 12 years ago for which QSL recently arrived last week. It is a QSL e-mail that KDLG General Manager Samuel Gardner sent for an e-mail reception report. They are a non-commercial, public and community radio station transmitting from Dillingham, Alaska. As noted on the QSL, I heard them at Grayland, Washington in 2006. To leave no doubt, I sent them an audio clip with the station ID.

KICY AM 850
Nome, Alaska


This QSL from KICY AM 850 in Nome, Alaska is my first MW QSL received by email. And it is a good one. I heard them in October 2006 on a Grayland expedition and sent off a reception report earlier this week to the General Manager, Patty Burchell. She responded with the QSL letter seen below. That means about 12.5 years elapsed between the reception of the station and receiving the QSL. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Ms. Burchell notes that KICY is the only American AM station with an international license for its audience in Russia.

Ms. Burchell sent this to me in the email with the QSL attached. I found it to be interesting. “I have had the opportunity to listen to the recording you sent, and it is indeed KICY. the voice after the ID is our Russian Language Programmer, Luda Kinok. She has been with us since about 2006, and is originally from a small village on the coast of Eastern Russia. We broadcast in the Russian language from 11 pm to 4 am daily. We do get responses from our Russian listeners on occasion. When Luda was needing to return to Russia every year to renew her Religious Worker’s visa she was treated as a rock star. Everyone knows Luda! Because of the changes in things in Russia, Luda applied for, and received asylum two years ago, and no longer travels back and forth.”

WDEL 1150
Wilmington, Delaware

This nice handwritten QSL folder from WDEL AM 1150 in Wilmington, Delaware arrived in our mailbox today. For a nice touch the QSL folder has an “official” raised seal on it. WDEL is another semi-local here at my listening post in Maryland. Thanks to Allan Loudell of WDEL for taking the time to write up the QSL and send it for my reception report.

Radio Peking
Radio Beijing
China Radio International

The official overseas broadcaster of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has had three names over the years. Radio Peking signed on the air for the first time in December 1941. The name was changed to Radio Beijing in 1983. Finally, it has been called China Radio International since 1993.

In return for reception reports over the years, they sent the QSL cards and souvenirs seen below. A couple of them are a bit unusual because they are for programs relayed on radio stations in the Washington, DC areas WBIS and WUST.

Radio Tampa
Nihon Shortwave Broadcasting
NSB

Radio Tampa was the branding name used by Nihon Shortwave Broadcasting of Tokyo, Japan. I heard Radio Tampa in Germany, the USA, and in Korea. They sent the QSL cards seen below for my reception reports.

Radio Nikkei is the successor to Radio Tampa.

Radio Nikkei
Chiba, Japan

Radio Nikkei is a private shortwave broadcaster in Japan. Its signals can be heard throughout the world if conditions are good. They are the successor to Radio Tampa – Nippon Shortwave Broadcasting (NSB). On the East Coast of North America, the best time to listen is just before sunrise at the receiving end. They sent the QSL cards seen below for my reception reports.

KJES – Vado, New Mexico

KJES Vado, New Mexico sent this QSL letter for their 11,715 kHz transmission on 13 April 2014. The program was a reading of the Easter Story from the Holy Bible. KJES is part of an outreach mission which serves the poor in Northern New Mexico, especially in and around Ciudad Juarez.

Most DXers know this station as the one which has children giving the station identification.

For more information about this station see their website at
thelordsranchcommunity dot com

WIOO 1000 AM
Country Gold Radio
Carlisle, Pennsylvania

This nice QSL letter, memo pad sheet, and stickers from WIOO in Carlisle, Pennsylvania arrived today in the mail. It is another of my semi-local stations. I have noticed that their signal is stronger than in the past. This can be explained by the “new” transmitter they are running, which they acquired from the co-channel station WMVP in Chicago. Thank you to Program Director Ray Thomas for taking the time to type up the letter below verifying my reception of WIOO..

The Mighty 1630 KCJJ
Iowa City, Iowa

When conditions are good to the west, The Mighty 1630 KCJJ can be heard breaking through the co-channel interference with a readable signal. I heard them on 30 January this year and decided to send them a reception report. Thank you to Jim Hunter, the station’s operations manager, for taking the time to reply by sending the QSL letter that you see below.

KGEI
La Voz de la Amistad

KGEI, first known as W6XBE, came on the air in 1939. Later that year, the owners, General Electric (GE) changed the call sign to KGEI for GE International. Sometime after World War II, the Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) acquired KGEI and broadcast religious and other programs focusing on Latin America. They used the slogan La Voz de la Amistad (The Voice of Friendship.) FEBC closed the station down in July 1994 after they tried to sell the station, but could not find a buyer.

In response to my three reception reports, they sent the QSL cards which can be seen below

KYOI – Super Rock Station

Anyone remember this station? It first came on the air in the early 1980’s broadcasting rock music to East Asia and Oceania from Saipan. Herald Broadcasting bought the station in December 1986 and continued to broadcast the rock music format until 1989 when the owners changed the call sign to KHBI and changed the format to news commentary and religion. In 1998 Herald Broadcasting sold the station to Radio Free Asia who has been using the facilities since them.

KYOI replied with this QSL card from Saipan for my reception report. I also send a report to Herald Broadcasting when they owned the station as KYOI. They replied with their generic WCSN QSL card.

BSF – Taiwan

BSF is a time and frequency station in Taiwan, operates on 77.5 kHz, 5 MHz, and 15 MHz. Their signal happened to make it Germany late one evening in 1988, and I reached out to them with a reception report. They replied with this QSL card.

YVTO – Caracas

YVTO was a time signal station transmitting the legal time for Venezuela on 6,100 kHz right in the middle of the 49 Meter Band. It was operated by the Venezuelan Ministry of Defense Naval Observatory “Juan Manuel Cagigal.” They replied with this very official looking QSL card for my 1985 reception report.

YS3 – Nauen

YS3 in Nauen was a time and frequency station in East Germany (before 1989). I heard them in 1986 when we lived in Maryland and they replied with the QSL folder below. Although they did not explicitly state I heard them, I have to believe their intent. So I am counting this.

CHU – Ottawa

The National Research Council (NRC) or Conseil national de recherches Canada (CNRC) operates radio station CHU on three frequencies (3330 kHz, 7850 kHz, and 14670 kHz) to maintain official time for Canada. They can be heard on at least one of the frequencies 24 hours per day depending on propagation. They issued the QSL cards seen below for my reception reports. CHU’s English language website is at https://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/services/time/short_wave.html

WWVB 60 kHz

This is a QSL for WWVB 60kHz for a 2008 reception. If you own an “atomic clock” or a “radio-controlled clock” and live in North America, you picked up this station when your clock reset to the current time. Yes, this is the station which is received by these clocks when they reset their time It is done by a simple code. I would assume that they would not send a QSL verification for a clock resetting. I received the station on my SDR-IQ (Software Defined Radio) on its waterfall display mode. The display came out nice and clearly showed that I was picking them up.

WWVH – Kauai

WWVH is the time and frequency sister station to WWV in Fort Collins, Colorado. The 5 MHz transmission can be heard here on the East Coast of North America through WWV just before sunrise. Prior to July 1972, WWVH had been broadcasting from the Island of Maui and since then on the Island of Kauai. So there are technically two different WWVH’s. I heard they had a new QSL card so I sent a report and this is what they sent.

WWVH – Maui

WWVH broadcast from Maui, Hawaii from 22 November 1941 to July 1971, when it moved to its current location near Kekaha on the Island of Kauai, Hawaii. WWVH did not broadcast voice announcements like its sister station WWV in Fort Collins until July 1964.

The station sent the QSL card below for my 1970 reception report.

OMA/OLB5 – Prague

OMA was the time and frequency station for Czechoslovakia. It was possible to hear them in Maryland in the 1980’s on 3170 kHz (OLB5) when conditions were good. It was operated by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences’ Astronomical Institute in Prague.

They send this QSL card for my reception report.

HLA – Daedeok

HLA is (or was) a standard time and frequency radio station operated by the Korea Standards Research Institute’s Time and Frequency Laboratory in Daedeok (Taedŏk) Science Town (대덕연구단지) near the city of Daejeon (대전 or Taejŏn). HLA first came on the air on 5 MHz in 1984. I heard a rumor that they were no longer on the air. However, there is a reported logging of them in 2018. I have not been able to verify it either way. Listening to remote SDR receivers in the East Asia area, including Korea have so far proven negative.

They responded to my 1991 reception report with the QSL card displayed below. Additionally, I took a day trip and drove down to the station and was treated to a fine tour of their facilities.