Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, William Lee, who shares the following story from the CBC:
Hello, Finland, this is Vancouver calling: radio fans listen to CBC from 6,700 km away
When people in other parts of the world tune in to CBC Radio in Vancouver, they usually do it through our app, or online or through Sirius XM.
But some people in Finland recently picked up Vancouver’s CBC broadcast — the broadcast heard locally at 690 AM and 88.1 FM — using an elaborate antenna system roughly 300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland, Finland.
“It’s a few [radio hobbyists] from around Finland who have a very nice place up in the north where there’s not much neighbours which means not much interference,” Patrik Willfor, one of the listeners, told On The Coast host Stephen Quinn. “It’s like a silent band there, so even the weakest signals come through.”
The practice is called DXing, and Willfor says he’s been at it for about 25 years since a friend told him that’s what their fathers used to do when they were young.[…]
Click here to read the full article on CBC British Columbia’s website.
Post readers: Is it just me? Or do you, too, get a kick out of it when the press gets a glimpse into the seemingly-anachronistic, but still-relevant-and-rocking world of radio–?
Note that you can also listen to the audio interview with Patrik via the embedded CBC player below:
Can they be counted as real listeners?
I absolutely agree with RTC. As I am one of the OT’s (68) and doing this since I was 13, I still get a whole bunch of satisfaction when I can’t hear a station for days due to crummy reception be it man made or atmospheric and all of a sudden it breaks through. I just can’t get that with a remote SDR or internet program. That being said, as long as everyone gets enjoyment from his or her mode of listening, that’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it?
There are a few-very few-of the younger generation who get the same
thrill out of DX we OT’s do.
The sense of accomplishment is hard to beat,especially if you have
to do a bit of work like these guys did.
Unfortunately far too many of the smartphone syndrome generation
don’t even comprehend it.
A “DX’er” on a DX forum last week listed all of his catches…impressive
but for the fact all were done using remote SDR’s on the internet?.
Like the man said,you had to be there… .
Yes, there is something ‘Magic’ listening to a radio station which is thousands of miles away on Short Wave
I am of the older generation (70) and really enjoyed listening to Short Wave, (DXing) when I was younger, however, with all the interference there is from the liking of TV.s and now computers, etc, I can still listen to those stations on the Internet, usually interference free and in crystal clear stereo. One example of that is I like also classical music, I live in Scotland UK and listen to classical music from RNZ Concert, Radio New Zealand Concert, that’s 12,000 miles away, it’s as clear as our own UK classical music station.