The W9IMS Brickyard 400 Special Event: Third Time’s a Certificate

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By Brian D. Smith, W9IND

Trifectas aren’t usually associated with auto racing, but this week’s run-up to the NASCAR Brickyard 400 will find thousands of amateur radio operators and SWLs pursuing just that: contact with the third and final Indianapolis Motor Speedway special event station of 2026.

In their quest for a colorful certificate, the Checkered Flag Award, radio enthusiasts who already worked or tuned in W9IMS during the previous two special events in May are now aiming for the clean sweep. The station will be on the air at various times from now till 11:59 p.m. on Race Day Sunday, July 26 (Indy time)/0359 UTC Monday, July 27.

But even if you missed out on either or both of the first two special events, which honored the IndyCar Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500, there’s still time to claim a collectible bounty. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Amateur Radio Club, the events’ organizer, offers an all-new commemorative QSL card for each race.

So how to win the paper chase?

W9IMS operates almost exclusively on 20 and 40 meters, with preferred frequencies of 14.245 and 7.245 SSB. But QRM can send the station far from those usual hangouts.

Here are a few tips on locating W9IMS:

1. Go to the W9IMS web page (www.w9ims.org) and look for the heading, “2026 Operating Schedule.” Click on the “Brickyard 400” link, which opens into a weeklong schedule of individual operators and their reserved time slots. Although participants frequently get on the air at unscheduled times, your odds of catching the station improve significantly during hours with a listed op.

2. Even if no operator is scheduled, check DX Summit (www.dxsummit.fi) for spots listing the current frequency or frequencies of W9IMS. You can customize your search by typing “W9IMS” in the box at upper right.

3. Your best chance for finding W9IMS active on weeknights is during the station’s prime time: 6 to 10 p.m. in Indy (2200-0200 UTC). However, operators may show up an hour or two early or continue till 11 p.m. and even past midnight if band conditions allow. It can also be fruitful to check DX Summit during mornings and early afternoons.

4. Remember that the published schedule can be shortened by adverse circumstances such as local thunderstorms, a lack of calling stations, and solar anomalies. Don’t wait till the last hour to hunt W9IMS.

5. Even so, if you still haven’t worked W9IMS by the final weekend, don’t give up too soon. Toward the end of the operation, ops often call for “only stations that haven’t worked us this week” and/or switch to a contest-style format, exchanging just signal reports to give more paper chasers a chance.

6. Keep in mind that both hams and SWLs are eligible for QSL cards and the certificate. So if you’ve made two QSOs and haven’t completed the trifecta by Sunday evening, you can use an SWL report for your third credit. Just copy down the basic details – such as the time (UTC), date, frequency and the callsigns of three stations you heard W9IMS working. The certificate may feature your name instead of your call, but should otherwise be indistinguishable from a standard-issue Checkered Flag Award.

7. Still have questions? Email [email protected] for the answers.

Records with Soul and a WAVE

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Hi to all SWLing Post community. Here’s the Imaginary Stations schedule for this week’s summertime listening.

On Wednesday 22nd July 2026, at 0200 hrs UTC on 9395 kHz on WRMI we have WHFM – Herman’s Radio and Record Room. This is another show in a series of programmes by DJ Frederick Moe in memory of his father Herman (1919-2001) and features mid-century sounds including country, jazz, folk and easy listening.

Later, that day at 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 kHz/6160 kHz via Shortwave Gold, we bring you a Skybird Special called Soul on Shortwave. Expect the best in soul and soul related tunes bounced off the ionosphere on a Wednesday night from DJ Frederick and One Deck Pete.

While on Saturday 25th July at 1100 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then again on Sunday 26th July at 1300 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 kHz/6160 kHz, we have the last episode of the show called Wave. Expect chilled out tunes, sunshine sounds and if all to plan the shortwave debut of the band Sandy Beeches depending on tide tables and the weather of course. Thanks to all our listeners for tuning into the Shortwave Gold and WRMI broadcasts, we at Imaginary Stations appreciate it!

For more information on all our shows, please write to us at [email protected] and check out our old shows at our Mixcloud page here.

FastRadioBurst23

Carlos’ Illustrated Radio Listening Report and Recording of Radio 10 (July 18, 2026)

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There’s something curious about listening to this tiny Sony SRF-SR84 receiver: when I hold it close to this metal fence, the medium wave reception improves significantly.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and noted political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, who shares the following illustrated radio listening report.

Carlos notes:

Trump threatens Canada with tariffs over wildfire smoke, Radio 10, Argentina, 710 kHz AM

Click here to view on YouTube.

Shortwave Memories — Who’s Out There?

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by Karl D. Forth

I can remember very early in my shortwave listening wondering how many people were tuned in to a particular broadcast at the same time I was. I was listening to Radio Portugal on a warm evening in June 1971 when I first had this thought. How many others in North America were listening to Radio Portugal, the Voice of The West, and their evening English service at 9 p.m. CDT in the summer of 1971?

The BBC, Radio Canada International, and Radio Nederland probably had a decent audience. And Radio Moscow and Radio Havana Cuba always drew some curious listeners.

What about a smaller broadcaster with an English transmission to North America? How many were listening to any international shortwave broadcaster?

How many were watching Gunsmoke or Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In compared to a feature on Portuguese oilseed production and chestnut exports?

There was no Arbitron ratings book as there was for AM and FM stations in the United States, but it’s fun to think about having a listening diary for shortwave stations, sent not to ARB’s headquarters in Beltsville, Maryland, but somewhere like Geneva, Switzerland, for tabulation.

The stations themselves didn’t know either, but they made audience estimates based on listener mail. Some stations that you may have listened to only a few times and wrote to get a QSL continued to send schedules for years after, counting you as a regular listener. When seeking funding, the stations pointed out that they sent schedules to 5,000 listeners, for example, every few months. (I’m looking at you, RAI.)

I’ve also read stories of shortwave schedules still coming to the house of parents of the listener many years after the listener moved away and started a separate life. (He or she probably picked up the schedules when they visited Mom and Dad, I figure.) Today, I’m still asking the same questions about how many are listening. The stations remaining on shortwave are, too. I’ve read some of the estimates for a major broadcaster’s over-the-air and digital audience that seem extremely optimistic.

Karl D. Forth has been interested in radio and DXing for more than 50 years. This story was included in the book Radio Nights and Distant Signals.

Please note: all Amazon links are affiliate links that support the SWLing Post at no cost to you.

Sharp SG-220 all-in-one stereo system

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes:

Since the Brazilian government adopted legislation allowing AM stations to migrate to FM, the medium-wave spectrum has become more favorable for the propagation of radio signals from other countries—specifically, in the case of southern Brazil, from Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. As night falls, the radio dial in Porto Alegre fills with Spanish-speaking broadcasts. And any receiver can pick up these transmissions—and I mean *any* receiver, including this Sharp SG-220 all-in-one stereo system from the late 1970s.

As long as the neighbors don’t turn on any electrical appliances (which cause terrible interference), it’s possible to tune in perfectly to stations from those countries. In this video, I take a quick tour of the stereo system’s dial so you can get an idea of ??what I’m talking about, including an Illustrated Radio Listening Report.

A Special QSL Card: Remembering the BBC and Deutsche Welle DRM Partnership

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Many thanks to SWling Post contributor, Paul Jamet, who hares the following article and notes:

I enjoyed this beautifully illustrated article: Snail Mail QSLs – A Few Stories from a Bygone Era

I’m also taking up the invitation to share a memorable QSL card of my own.

I’ve received hundreds of QSL cards by snail mail. After some hesitation, I’ve chosen a QSL card that I received quickly (in 6 days) but which reflects a time when two very important international radio stations were strong believers in Digital Radio Mondial (DRM):

Testimony of a Joint BBC / DW DRM Programme for Europe

by Paul Jamet

My most memorable QSL card bears witness to the collaboration between the BBC World Service (BBC-WS) and Deutsche Welle (DW). These two broadcasters launched a major radio project in the late 2000s: a joint shortwave transmission in DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale), aimed at providing a high-quality digital service for Europe.

The BBC and DW established a partnership to pool their transmission capabilities and deliver a single digital stream (in English) across Europe. Transmission sites located in Sines (Portugal), Woofferton (United Kingdom), and Moosbrunn (Austria) were used to ensure broadcasting from 06:00 local time until midnight.

This is why I invested around €300 in purchasing a DiWave 100 receiver to listen to this programme, broadcast using a technology that both broadcasters were intensively testing at the time. The AFS function—Alternative Frequency Switching or Signalling—allowed the receiver to automatically follow frequency changes throughout the day without any manual intervention. The programme originated alternately from Berlin or London, on one or more frequencies transmitted from the sites mentioned above.

This QSL card, along with the screenshot from the DiWave 100 that enabled me to obtain it, stands as evidence of a broken dream [mainly due to the rise of streaming, but also the lack of DRM receivers].

The BBC and DW eventually abandoned the project. In terms of digital broadcasting, DAB+—a technology stemming from the European Eureka project—has become dominant across Europe. Today, the BBC World Service, and especially Radio Romania International, continue to broadcast daily to Europe. TDF (Télédiffusion de France) is conducting trials on various frequencies from its Issoudun transmission centre.

Today, I still believe in DRM. This technology uses HF bands and makes it possible to cover vast areas with a single transmitter, while offering significantly improved listening conditions and additional services such as text transmission (Journaline), images, and emergency warning messages (EWF technology).

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