Galleries
CFCX 6005 – Montreal
Central Broadcasting System of the Republic of China
Radio Nacional de España (RNE) – Madrid – 585 kHz
This QSL card and letter from Radio Nacional de España was left in my mailbox this afternoon. It was for their station on 585 kHz with the transmitter located at Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain. It was strong for about 30 or so minutes and I was able to pick out enough program details for the kind staff at the station to verify.It is RNE number 5 in my collection. A big thank you to José Antonio Garcia Merino for taking the time and effort to answer my reception report.
Super Time Force Radio – STF Radio
WCBQ
Radio Canada International
Radio Korea and KBS World Radio
(QSL’s below the text.)
KBS World Radio in Korea 12 January 2016 via SDR Twente. 0859 Sign on
Radio Korea (and its successors Radio Korea International and KBS World Radio and its predecessor Voice of Free Korea) has to be my sentimental favorite shortwave radio station. They have been one of my connections to Korea, where I served as a missionary from 1975 to 1977.
On 7 July 1977, I had the opportunity to visit the KBS transmitter site at Kimje (김제). You can see the photos here.
Over the years, they issued some rather eye catching and classy QSL cards. I first heard Voice of Free Korea in 1969. Unfortunately, I did not send them a reception report for a QSL card. From what I understand they changed their name to Radio Korea in 1973. Then in 1975, I was called to be a missionary in Korea, so my interest in Radio Korea piqued. Since I was busy as a missionary, my time for listening to the radio was virtually non-existent, but I do remember hearing Radio Korea’s English language program for foreigners on medium wave on 600 and 750 kHz. I even picked up a shortwave broadcast and received a QSL for my reception report.
After I came home from my mission in 1977, I sent off a few more reports and received QSL cards in return. My interest in Radio Korea was in full gear. I listened to their Korean language transmissions to practice my Korean, in addition to listening to their English language programs.
In 1983, I became an official monitor and received a new QSL every month. I even listened to their English language program on FM during a three-month long visit to Korea in 1984. My term as an official monitor lasted until 1987 when we moved to Germany. I still sent reception reports to them on a fairly regular basis even after that.
After we moved to Korea in 1989, I began to spend less time listening to Radio Korea, mainly because they no longer broadcast on FM and medium wave and because it was difficult to pick up their shortwave broadcasts. That is because we were so close that their signals would skip over us, and so they were not strong. However, in addition to the American Forces Korean Network (AFKN), I listened to the Korean stations including KBS. I did send a few reception reports to Radio Korea nonetheless.
We returned to the USA in 1997, and discovered that it was still difficult to hear Radio Korea in Maryland. Propagation of their signal to Maryland was not good, and they started to beam their signal elsewhere. Additionally, my schedule did not mesh with their broadcast times. So, my reports were very sporadic.
I collected almost 100 different QSLs from Radio Korea and KBS World Radio, by far the most from any single station. Most of them are for their shortwave transmissions from Kimje. I also have a QSL verifying the reception of a transmission from their transmitter site in Suwon (수원) as well as several QSLs verifying their FM broadcasts in 1984 and a couple QSLs for overseas relay stations.
I hope to be able to listen to KBS World Radio more in the future as time and propagation permits.
You can see the QSL cards that I collected from Radio Korea and KBS World Radio over the years below. They bring back a lot of fond memories to me. Comments are welcome. (Click on the images for enlarged views.)
REFERENCE:
About KBS World Radio – http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/about/about_kbsworld.htm – accessed 25 September 2015
Trans World Radio – TWR
Overcomer Ministry – Brother Stair
La Voz de los Andes – The Voice of the Andes – HCJB
This is one of the stations that got piqued my interest in shortwave listening. They had a very strong signal into North America. Imagine picking up a radio station from Quito, Ecuador in English. That was so cool. I heard them for the first time on the 31 MB in the summer of 1969, and sent for for my first QSL from them in 1970.
Family Radio
World Service of the Christian Science Monitor
BBC World Service
Radio Earth
Swedish Telecommunications Administration – Experimental Broadcast
Radio Sweden
The Mighty KBC
Radio Romania International
Radio Bucharest
High Adventure Ministries
Radio Cook Islands
Radio Cook Islands
Cook Islands Broadcasting and Newspaper Corporation
Radio New Ireland
Office de Radiodiffusion et Télévision du Bénin
Red Cross Broadcasting Service
Radio Ukraine International
Radio Kiev
WWVB – 60 kHz
Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Domestic Service on Shortwave
Adventist World Radio – AWR
Radio Monitors International
Radio Monitors International was broadcast over the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation from 1975. The producer was the well-known DXer Adrian Peterson. It was a DXer oriented program which featured a station profile and DXing information. A North American edition of the program was broadcast on Radio Earth from 1985 to 1986.
I happened upon the program during a visit to Korea in 1984. I had to send two reports to the station because the first one never made it. Adrian sent a nice letter, a QSL card, and an EKKO stamp in reply for my reception report. (Anyone remember EKKO Stamps?) My report number was 12777. Adrian still signs QSL cards, now doing it for Adventist World Radio. I don’t know how one would tabulate the number of times someone signs a QSL card, but if I were to bet, I believe that Adrian probably has signed more of them than anyone else in the world.
REFERENCEs:
- Listening on the Short Waves, 1945 to Today By Jerome S. Berg
- http://www.ontheshortwaves.com/Wavescan/wavescan400.html
- http://eu.awr.org/ru/news/stories/show/41
Radio Vilnius
Radio Vilnius
Vilniaus Televizija Radijas
The Voice of Greece –
Η Φωνή της Ελλάδας
The Voice of Greece
Η Φωνή της Ελλάδας
Greek Radio Television
Ellinikí Radiophonia Tileórassi
Ελληνική Ραδιοφωνία Τηλεόραση
Radio Austria International
Radio Slovakia International
Radio Slovakia International
Radio Exterior de España
Radio Exterior de España