Category Archives: Ham Radio

2025 Checkered Flag Award: W9IMS Grand Prix Special Event Now Underway

Make the Month of May Even Merrier: Earn Your First Credit Toward the 2025 Checkered Flag Award

By Brian D. Smith, W9IND

Never mind the old saying about April showers bringing May flowers. In Indianapolis, the month of May ushers in auto racing season, with two major events scheduled at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It’s also the start of your opportunity to earn the latest Checkered Flag Award, available to hams and shortwave listeners who connect with amateur radio station W9IMS during its three special events of 2025. The events commemorate major races at the legendary oval: The Indy Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500, both from the IndyCar series; and the NASCAR Brickyard 400.

But don’t delay – the first event, now underway, will pull the plug at 11:59

p.m. Saturday, May 10 (Eastern Time)/0359 UTC Sunday.

Nine days later, W9IMS will return to the airwaves for its ever-popular Indy 500 special event. Following its May 25 conclusion, the transmitters will cool for a couple of months until the final special event of the year (July 21-27), honoring the NASCAR Brickyard 400.

Prime time for W9IMS is 6 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time (2200 Saturday-0200 Sunday UTC) on weekdays, sometimes extending to midnight (0400 GMT Sunday) and beyond, and the bands of choice are 40 and 20 meters – generally on or around 7.245 and 14.245 MHz. But QRM and other adversities can prompt changes in frequencies. To eliminate guesswork, check for W9IMS spots on DX Summit (www.dxsummit.fi) and eHam (www.eHam.net).

Also, while W9IMS can fire up anytime between now and its final Saturday signoff, you’ll have a better chance of finding active stations by going to the W9IMS QRZ page (www.w9ims.com) and clicking the Grand Prix link under “2025 Operating Schedule” – which displays the time slots that operators have already signed up for. The same page contains additional information regarding the W9IMS QSL cards and certificate.

For radio amateurs who still haven’t bagged W9IMS by Saturday evening, note that toward the end of the event, operators often start limiting calls to stations that haven’t yet worked the current special event. Another tip is to drop in for happy hour, the last hour of the last day – in this case, 11 p.m. Saturday (0300 UTC Sunday). That’s when W9IMS ops traditionally switch to contest-style QSOs, exchanging only signal reports so they can log as many stations as possible. But remember, too, that W9IMS special events can end early in the event of sparse QSOs or unfavorable solar or weather conditions.

And a final tip for hams: If you can hear W9IMS but can’t complete a QSO in the waning moments, don’t despair. You can still create an SWL report by jotting down the details of other W9IMS contacts – including frequency, UTC, and the callsigns of a few stations that you heard W9IMS work. A valid report satisfies the requirements for a Grand Prix QSL card and the first of three credits for a certificate. SWL certificates feature names instead of callsigns but are otherwise indistinguishable from awards issued to amateur radio operators.

Whether or not you achieve the clean sweep this year, you’ll qualify for a new and unique QSL card with each race that you snare. But don’t give up yet – you still have several days left to put the Grand Prix in your log and claim your first credit toward the 2025 Checkered Flag Award.

Frank’s Adventures with HamSphere 5.0

Frank’s Guide to Listening to Ham Radio Comms

Geerling Engineering’s Take on the FCC’s “DELETE, DELETE, DELETE” Docket

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Jeff and Joe Geerling provide a quick but insightful overview of the FCC’s “DELETE, DELETE, DELETE” docket, offering their thoughts on its implications—especially from Joe’s perspective as a broadcast engineer. Their discussion is a great starting point for understanding how these regulatory changes could impact radio and wireless communications.

Click here to view on YouTube.

I should note that a couple weeks ago I submitted a public comment on the FCC site regarding the importance of the amateur radio service—while this isn’t specifically about deregulating the amateur radio service, I believe it’s always worth reinforcing the value of maintaining our spectrum allocations. Click here for more information on the FCC website.

120 Years of XSG: Special World Radio Day Event and QSL Card

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Michael (BD4AAQ), who shares the following announcement:

Notice from Shanghai Coast Radio Station (XSG) on Hosting the Global Amateur Radio Communication Event

Dear Amateur Radio Enthusiasts,

To celebrate World Radio Day and foster communication and interaction with amateur radio operators worldwide, Shanghai Coast Radio Station (XSG) is pleased to announce a global amateur radio communication event. The event will take place from 12 to 13 February 2025, using the station’s long-standing callsign, XSG.

Established in 1905, Shanghai Coast Radio Station celebrates its 120th anniversary this year. The station has used the callsign XSG ever since and, apart from the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), has maintained Morse code telegraph services, preserving its historic significance and operational excellence.

Event Schedule:

The scheduled period will be from 00:00 UTC on 12 February 2025 to 24:00 UTC on 13 February 2025.

XSG Transmission Frequencies and Modes:

4105 KHz CW/A1A
6780 KHz CW/A1A
8502 KHz CW/A1A
12871.5 KHz CW/A1A
17103.2 KHz CW/A1A

Prior to the official event, intermittent schedule announcements will also be broadcast on the above frequencies.

XSG Receive Frequencies and Modes:

3521.3 KHz – 3526.3 KHz CW/A1A
7021.3 KHz – 7026.3 KHz CW/A1A
10121.3 KHz – 10126.3 KHz CW/A1A
14021.3 KHz – 14026.3 KHz CW/A1A
21021.3 KHz – 21026.3 KHz CW/A1A

QSL Confirmation:

Due to differing regulations set by amateur radio licensing authorities across the globe, XSG will only confirm amateur radio QSOs and SWL reports via paper QSL cards delivered by mail. If you wish to receive an XSG QSL card, please send your card to: No. 1 Diantai Road, Zhangjiang Town, Pudong New Area, Shanghai 201206, PR China. Email: [email protected].

Important Reminder:

To be clear, contacts with XSG will be cross-band contacts where XSG will operate on its authorized frequencies outside of the amateur radio bands, and any amateur radio operator making contact will operate within their own allocated amateur frequencies as listed above. Operators should exercise caution when operating split cross-band, ensuring they do not accidentally transmit on top of another station within the amateur bands. It’s a good practice to regularly monitor your transmit frequency.

Please note that amateur radio operators are not permitted to transmit on XSG’s dedicated frequencies. Operators must adhere to the transmission requirements in their respective licenses. It is recommended that amateur radio enthusiasts consult their national licensing authorities regarding applicable regulations before engaging in communications with XSG.

We warmly invite amateur radio operators worldwide to participate in this event and look forward to celebrating this milestone together.

Shanghai Coast Radio Station (XSG)
19 January 2025

Information provided by BD4AAQ (Michael Ye) and BH4BFS (Xusheng Niu)

Bridging Two Worlds: Shortwave Listening Meets Amateur Radio

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When the SWL and Amateur Radio hobbies meet

by Dan Greenall

Many of us who are also amateur radio operators, got their start in the hobby through simply listening to shortwave radio, or perhaps, to stations in the AM or FM broadcast bands. I suppose it is then inevitable that these two hobbies are bound to connect with each other from time to time. Here are a few examples of this that relate to my experiences.

In 1972, while doing a random band scan on shortwave, I came across a point-to-point radio station from Managua, Nicaragua that was transmitting a repeating test message (recording attached below):

The station was operated by the Tropical Radio Telegraph Company and I sent off a reception report in hopes of receiving a QSL from them. As luck would have it, the Plant Engineer, Guenter G. Zaenker, responded with a friendly letter including some details about their transmitter power and antennas used.

A couple of years later, when I got my amateur radio licence (VE3HLC), my SWL activities took a back seat to ham radio for a while. In 1978, I received a QSL for a contact with station YN1Z in Managua who turned out to be none other than Guenther G. Zaenker.

I worked Guenter for a final time as TG9XGV in Guatemala City, Guatemala. How is that for completing a hat trick!

Shortly after receiving my amateur radio ticket in 1974, I made a contact with station PJ9BN, Jack Van Sciver on the island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles.

It turns out he worked at Trans World Radio, a broadcaster I had listened to regularly on the SWBC bands and it was quite exciting to discover this connection. Attached is a link to a recording I made of this station that same year as they were concluding a segment of their popular DX Special program:

https://archive.org/details/trans-world-radio-bonaire

It seems that Jack is still going strong as I recently found this link to his current amateur callsign NA3F: https://www.qrz.com/db/NA3F

A final note, I had made a 2-way contact through the Oscar 6 amateur radio satellite (uplink on 2 metres, downlink on 10 metres) in 1976 with W.G. “George” Roach in Ottawa, Ontario.

Some 11 years later, I was able to pick up station CFMO FM on 93.9 MHz, over 300 miles away, through some great ducting conditions. When I received a QSL from the station, it was signed by W.G. Roach who was the chief engineer at CFMO FM.