Front of RHC QSL card (click to enlarge).
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Daniel Amoroso, who shares this QSL card and notes:
Hello Thomas,
Attached is QSL # 1 from Radio Habana Cuba for their shortwave broadcast on 8- 15-2015
This was the day the US Embassy in Cuba was officially re-opened.
Back of RHC QSL card (click to enlarge).
Card was received on April 18 , 2016.
Very cool! Thank you for sharing this card and noting that relevant bit of history, Daniel.
A couple months ago at my local ham radio club meeting (the NCDXCC), my buddy Paul Greaves (W4FC) mentioned that his passion for amateur radio DXing originated with shortwave broadcaster DXing. He told me:
“When I was a teen I could hardly wait to check the PO Box to see what treasures were awaiting me. After getting a QSL card many times there were many more mailings with program schedules and propaganda. I even got Chairman Mao’s little Red Book.”
Paul noted that he had quite a few SWL QSL cards, so naturally I asked if he’d share a few of his favorites with the SWLing Post. He kindly obliged.
Click on the images below to enlarge.
Wow–thank you so much for sharing these, Paul! What a beautiful QSL collection!
Post readers: If you also have some classic SWL QSL cards you’d like to share here on the SWLing Post, please contact me!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, John Cooper, who writes:
I received this nice QSL package in the mail today from Radio Belarus. Since they went off the air 1 April, this might be one of the last batch of QSLs they sent out.
The confirmation letter I found interesting. The postmark on the letter was 25 03 16. It’s a shame they’re not on anymore as they were audible here on the east coast as evidenced by the confirmation.
I wonder what they’ll do with the souvenirs they were getting in April. Hopefully any new reports they get for the last broadcast will have a nice selection if they’re still answering.
Thanks for taking the time to share this, John! You have, indeed, probably received the last batch of QSLs Radio Belarus will issue.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who writes:
Hi Thomas:
I hope you have started a very good year!!!
I’m sending you the link where you can see the new 2016 QSLs from Radio Prague:http://radio.cz/en/static/qsl/qsl-cards
These are about religious buildings in the Czech Republic.
Yours from Argentina
David Iurescia LW4DAF
Very cool! Thanks for passing this along, David!
Sign from the original WWV tranmitter site in Maryland, currently posted outside of the Fort Collins, Colorado transmitter building. (Photo: Thomas Witherspoon)
Commenting on our post about Myke’s new release of At The Tone, SWLing Post contributor Richard Langley writes:
I must have first heard WWV shortly after putting together the Knight-Kit Span Master I received for Christmas 1963. I still have my log books from my high school days, which include an entry for Radio Habana on 29 December 1963 for which I subsequently received a QSL card. But I guess I didn’t log all my receptions. The first entry for WWV is dated 3 June 1966 in the last year of WWV’s operation from Greenbelt, Maryland (on government land that subsequently became the site of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center).
I have a QSL card for the reception of the 5 MHz signal featuring a drawing (in pink) of the Jefferson Memorial [see above].
The next entry is dated 1 December 1966, the first day of WWV’s operation from Fort Collins, Colorado.
I have one of the special QSL cards issued for confirmation of first-day reception for my report on the 20 and 25 MHz signals [see above].
I’m sure I heard WWVH early on too but my first log entry is dated 29 March 1967. I never did QSL them.
Richard: Thanks so much for sharing these special QSL cards. Wow! I had never seen the first day card from WWV Fort Collins before–what a treasure you have there!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who writes:
Yesterday, 4 October, was the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik I, the first artificial Earth satellite. The launch heralded the beginning of the space age. Sputnik I’s Doppler-shifted radio transmissions on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz led to the development of the U.S. Navy Navigation Satellite System (Transit) and the equivalent Soviet system (Tsikada) and, eventually, to GPS and GLONASS and the other modern global navigation satellite systems.
The Sputnik I radio signals were picked up by many shortwave listeners. The 20 MHz signal was close to that of WWV and so was easy to find. And, apparently, WWV turned off its 20 MHz transmitter during some of Sputnik I’s passes over the U.S. so as not to interfere with reception.
There are several good sites on the Web with information about Sputnik I and its radio signals including:
(Click to enlarge)
Sometime in high school, I received a card from Radio Moscow celebrating the launch of Sputnik I [see above]. Perhaps it was issued in 1967 for the 10th anniversary of the launch.
Richard: You never cease to amaze me! Thank you so much for sharing all of this Sputnik I information and resources! That gorgeous QSL Card is perhaps my favorite design from Radio Moscow.
