Radio Prague QSL Cards for 2023

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, David Iurescia (LW4DAF), who shares the following announcement from Radio Prague:

Radio Prague’s QSL Cards (Radio Prague)

The three letters – QSL – constitute one of the codes originally developed in the days of the telegraph. All codes consisted of three letters beginning with “Q”. Later some of these “Q” codes were adopted by radio-telegraphists and radio listeners. QSL means “contact confirmed” or “reception confirmed”.

The expression “QSL card” or just “QSL” gradually came to be used among radio-amateurs and then more broadly as radio began to develop as a mass medium. Radio stations were keen to know how well and how far away their programmes could be heard and began to send their listeners “QSL cards” in return for reception reports. The card would include letters making up the “call sign” of the station – the system still used in the United States – or the broadcasting company’s logo or some other illustration. The card would also include a text stating the frequency and the transmitter output power, and a confirmation of when the listener heard the station.

Domestic broadcasters do not tend to use QSL cards these days, but their popularity remains among radio stations broadcasting internationally. They are still keen to know how well they can be heard in the parts of the world to which they broadcast. In the era of shortwave broadcasts Radio Prague sent out QSL cards for reception reports received. Today we also send QSL cards to those who listen to us on the internet.

https://english.radio.cz/reception-report

Click here to read the announcement at Radio Prague and view a gallery of all Radio Prague QSL cards for 2023.

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Radio Waves: RTL Ends Longwave, Ana Montes Released, Mystery Antennas Across Utah, RIP Mihail Mihailov, and Morse in Music

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The Junglinster RTL longwave transmitter (via Wikimedia Commons)

Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

RTL Ends Longwave Service (Radio World)

On 234 kHz, the new year rang in with static, not bells or fireworks. As had been announced in October, French broadcaster RTL switched off its longwave broadcasts on January 1, 2023.

Long-time RTL presenter Georges Lang marked the occasion with a bittersweet tweet: “Voilà, c’est fini… Goodbye good old Long Waves, you did a good job for a so long time. You belong now to the history of Radio-Luxembourg and RTL.”

Groupe M6, which owns the station, noted that maintaining longwave broadcasts from the Beidweiler, Luxembourg, transmission site consumed about 6,000 megawatt-hours of electricity each year, roughly equal to the average annual energy consumption of 3,000 French people. [Continue reading…]

US releases top Cuba spy Ana Belén Montes after 20 years in prison (The Guardian)

SWLing Post contributor, Ed, shares this story and notes:

Some SWLing Post readers might be interested to learn that one of the few spies ever caught in the U.S. using shortwave numbers station transmissions to receive instructions is Ana Belén Montes, who was just released from prison after serving 20 years of her 25-year sentence.

Former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst, 65, freed after being found guilty of espionage in 2002

One of the highest-ranking US officials ever proven to have spied for Cuba has been released from prison early after spending more than two decades behind bars.

Ana Belén Montes pleaded guilty in 2002 to conspiracy to commit espionage after she was accused of using her leading position as a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) official to leak information, including the identities of some US spies, to Havana. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison at the age of 45. Continue reading →

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Carlos’ Shortwave Art and recording of China Radio International (Invasion of Brazilian Congress, January 8, 2023)

Silent Key: Arnaldo “Arnie” Coro Antich (CO2KK), of Radio Havana Cuba, has passed away

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Langley, who shares this sad news via Horacio A. Nigro (CX3BZ):

Arnie Coro and family circa 2016 (Photo via QRZ.com)

Arnaldo Coro Antich (CO2KK) Passed Away This Morning At 80 Years Old

This morning of January 8, 2023, our colleague Arnaldo de Jesús Coro Antich (CO2KK) died in a hospital in the capital at the age of 80 due to complications from chronic illnesses he suffered.
Coro began his interest in the radio, according to what he said, from the gift of his father, a coil with a galena stone and headphones to listen to the stations. At just 12 years old, he joined the then Radio Club de Cuba, the association that at the end of the 50s brought together radio amateurs in the capital.

In 1957 he began working at CMBA Television Canal 7, owned by the Mestre brothers, where he gained a lot of knowledge.

As a journalist, he collaborated with the written press and with the radio, his greatest passion. The first one recalls his sec? tion on science in Juventud Rebelde newspaper and the articles in the magazine Juventud Técnica in which he was also one of the advisors. On the radio he was until his death a member of the team of the Radio Habana Cuba radio station and his program Dxers Unlimited, in English, which reached all corners of the planet, was highly appreciated, from where he re? ceived abundant correspondence. Many foreign colleagues knew him as Arnie Coro. He also had sections on science and technology in programs on Radio Progreso, Radio Taino and Radio Metropolitana.

Arnaldo was passionate about the dissemination of science and technology and was always aware of the latest discovery or invention to pass it on to listeners and friends.
As a professor, he also taught classes at the “Raúl Roa Kourí” Higher Institute of International Relations and at the “José Martí” International Institute of Journalism. But his teachings were not limited to the teaching scenarios, he constantly trans? mitted them to everyone.
Since its foundation in 1966, he was a member of the Cuban Radio Amateurs Federation, and an active member in technical commissions and other positions, always looking for solutions to technical problems. He founded and kept the “Rueda del Multimetro” (Net of multimeter) on the air for a long time, in which he helped to understand the technical issues of radio am? ateurs and to find solutions to the problems that numerous colleagues from the backyard and abroad consulted him.

He was an active contributor to other rounds such as the “Rueda Huracan” (Hurrican Net) and the “Encuentro Capitalino” (Capital Meeting) where he made available his knowledge about solar activity and propagation, one of his favorite topics and of which he was a true connoisseur.

Another subject to which he dedicated special interest, time and efforts was that of emergency communications by radio amateurs. His radio station was always ready to seek and share information during emergencies and disasters in our country and the region. At the time of his death he was the Emergency Coordinator for Area C of Region 2 of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU R2).

I will always appreciate our exchanges by radio or phone about extreme weather events threatening our area. Coro, who was born on July 2, 1942, received the National Radio Award in 2017.

We offer our condolences to his family on his death.

Rest in peace, friend. We will miss you.

Carlos Alberto Santamaría González (CO2JC)
Coordinador de la Red de Emergencia Nacional FRC
Coordinador de Emergencias IARU R2.FALLECIÓ ESTA MADRUGADA A LOS 80 AÑOS ARNALDO CORO ANTICH (CO2KK)
Horacio A. Nigro, CX3BZ

The following statement was posted on the RHC website:

Prominent Cuban journalist and professor Arnaldo Coro Antích passes away

Havana, January 8 (RHC)– In the early hours of this Sunday morning, the outstanding journalist and university professor Arnaldo (Arnie) Coro Antich, with a long working career in Cuban radio, passed away in Havana.

Winner of the National Radio Award 2017, Coro was born on July 2, 1942. From a very young age, he was linked to radio broadcasting. He was an expert radio amateur (his call sign: CO2KK) and a specialist in Mass Media and New Information and Communications Technologies.

He taught as Assistant Professor at the Higher Institute of International Relations of MINREX and served as Vice President of the Cuban Commission for the Preservation of Audiovisual Heritage, created by UNESCO.

Arnie Coro was the author of numerous scientific and technical publications, including the book “La Guerra Radial de Los Estados Unidos de América Contra Cuba,” published in 1984.

He was the host of the internationally-renowned radio program “Dxers Unlimited,” which he kept on-the-air for many years on the English-language broadcasts of Radio Havana Cuba. “Dxers Unlimited” was one of the most popular radio programs in English and was considered a profesional guide to shortwave listening around the world.

Arnie’s last working years were spent in Radio Habana Cuba’s English language service, a group that regrets his death and sends its condolences to his family and friends.

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A little daytime Medium Wave DXing . . .

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By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

Let’s get one thing clear from the start: it’s all Ken Reitz’s fault. When the search for the guilty begins, the finger should point squarely at Mr. Reitz.

Who is Ken Reitz? He is the Managing Editor and Publisher of The Spectrum Monitor.

The Spectrum Monitor is a radio hobbyist magazine available only in PDF format and can be read on any device capable of opening a PDF file. It covers virtually aspect of the radio hobby, and you can find it here: https://www.thespectrummonitor.com/ I am a subscriber, and I can heartily recommend it without reservation.

So what is it that Mr. Reitz did that set me off? Short answer: he wrote a really good article entitled “AM DX Antennas: Long Wires and Loops Big and Small.” In it, he mentioned that he could hear, from his location in Virginia, WCBS on 880 in New York City, some 300 miles away. He also mentioned that he could hear, during daylight hours, WGY in Schenectady, NY, about 400 miles distant.

WGY is a local station for me in Troy, NY, but I wondered: Could I hear WCBS in New York City? That’s nearly 150 miles from me. Hmmm.

So I started firing up various radios and radio/antenna combinations on 880 kHz. I tried my Icom IC706 MkIIIG ham transceiver, hooked to the 45-foot indoor end-fed antenna. Nothing heard.

Next, my Grundig Satellit 800 connected to its 4-foot whip antenna. I could hear WCBS barely, but with a horrible buzzing noise. Switching the Satellit 800 to the horizontal room loop antenna I could hear WCBS better, but the noise was really, really nasty.

One way to preserve domestic tranquility is to hide the MFJ Loop behind a curtain!

Then I connected the MFJ 1886 Receive Loop Antenna. Tah-dah! I could hear WCBS just fine, with some noise in the background, but “armchair copy.” The MFJ loop made a huge difference in the quality and strength of the signal. I also tried the MFJ loop with another radio I have under test (its identity to be revealed in the future) and found, while I couldn’t hear WCBS at all with the radio’s internal antenna, the 1886 made an enormous difference, pulling out a fully copyable signal with noise in the background.

Finally, I tried a couple of my portables. My Tecsun 880 could hear WCBS, but the noise level was high enough to be annoying. Finally, I tried my CCrane Skywave SSB. The Skywave did a better job of pulling the signal out of the noise. I got the same result with the CCrane Skywave SSB2. Both Skywaves were using their internal ferrite antennas. Impressive.

Bottom line, for this very small foray into daytime medium wave DXing, the MFJ-1886 Receive Loop Antenna was a powerful and useful tool, one I can easily recommend. Second, when it comes to portables, the CCrane Skywave SSB (either model) continues to show that it is “The Little Radio That Could.”

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Radio Waves: Absolute Radio Turns Off AM in UK, Carlos Latuff Interview, X-Class Flaring, and Morse Code Is Back!

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Absolute Radio to switch off all AM transmitters across the UK (Radio Today)

Bauer is removing Absolute Radio from Medium wave this month as it turns off all AM frequencies for the station across the country.

Absolute Radio launched exclusively on AM (as Virgin Radio) 30 years ago in 1993 using predominantly 1215 kHz along with fill-in relays on 1197, 1233, 1242 and 1260. Some of these have been turned off in recent years in places such as Devon, Merseyside and Tayside.

Whilst this is a historic milestone for the radio industry, it shouldn’t affect many listeners as just two percent of all radio listening currently takes place on AM.

Absolute Radio also lost its FM frequency in London in 2021 in favour of the ever-expanding Greatest Hits Radio network.

The move makes Absolute Radio a digital-only service, broadcasting nationally on DAB and online. [Continue reading…]

Coffee and Radio – with Carlos Latuff (Radio Heritage)

[…]Carlos Henrique Latuff de Sousa or simply “Carlos Latuff”, for friends, (born in Rio de Janeiro, November 30, 1968) is a famous Brazilian cartoonist and political activist. Latuff began his career as an illustrator in 1989 at a small advertising agency in downtown Rio de Janeiro. He became a cartoonist after publishing his first cartoon in a newsletter of the Stevadores Union in 1990, and continues to work for the trade union press to this day.

With the advent of the Internet, Latuff began his artistic activism, producing copyleft designs for the Zapatista movement. After a trip to the occupied territories of the West Bank in 1999, he became a sympathizer of the Palestinian cause in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and devoted much of his work to it. He became an anti-Zionist during this trip and today helps spread anti-Zionist ideals.

His page of Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/carloslatuff/) currently has more than 50 thousand followers, where of course you can see his work as a cartoonist and also shows his passion for radio. [Continue reading…]

X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE (Speaceweather.com)

A large and potentially dangerous sunspot is turning toward Earth. This morning (Jan. 6th at 0057 UT) it unleashed an X-class solar flare and caused a shortwave radio blackout over the South Pacific Ocean. Given the size and apparent complexity of the active region, there’s a good chance the explosions will continue in the days ahead. Full story @ Spaceweather.com ( https://spaceweather.com)

Looking to Ditch Twitter? Morse Code Is Back (Smithsonian Magazine)

For almost 20 years, Steve Galchutt, a retired graphic designer, has trekked up Colorado mountains accompanied by his pack of goats to contact strangers around the world using a language that is almost two centuries old, and that many people have given up for dead. On his climbs, Galchutt and his herd have scared away a bear grazing on raspberries, escaped from fast-moving forest fires, camped in subfreezing temperatures and teetered across a rickety cable bridge over a swift-moving river where one of his goats, Peanut, fell into the drink and then swam ashore and shook himself dry like a dog. “I know it sounds crazy, risking my life and my goats’ lives, but it gets in your blood,” he tells me by phone from his home in the town of Monument, Colorado. Sending Morse code from a mountaintop—altitude offers ham radios greater range—“is like being a clandestine spy and having your own secret language.”

Worldwide, Galchutt is one of fewer than three million amateur radio operators, called “hams,” who have government-issued licenses allowing them to transmit radio signals on specifically allocated frequencies. While most hams have moved on to more advanced communications modes, like digital messages, a hard-core group is sticking with Morse code, a telecommunications language that dates back to the early 1800s—and that offers a distinct pleasure and even relief to modern devotees.

Strangely enough, while the number of ham operators is declining globally, it’s growing in the United States, as is Morse code, by all accounts. ARRL (formerly the American Radio Relay League), based in Newington, Connecticut, the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the world, reports that a recent worldwide ham radio contest—wherein hams garner points based on how many conversations they complete over the airwaves within a tight time frame—showed Morse code participants up 10 percent in 2021 over the year before.

This jump is remarkable, given that in the early 1990s, the Federal Communications Commission, which licenses all U.S. hams, dropped its requirement that beginner operators be proficient in Morse code; it’s also no longer regularly employed by military and maritime users, who had relied on Morse code as their main communications method since the very beginning of radio. Equipment sellers have noticed this trend, too. “The majority of our sales are [equipment for] Morse code,” says Scott Robbins, owner of ham radio equipment maker Vibroplex, founded in 1905, which touts itself as the oldest continuously operating business in amateur radio. “In 2021, we had the best year we’ve ever had … and I can’t see how the interest in Morse code tails off.”

Practitioners say they’re attracted by the simplicity of Morse code—it’s just dots and dashes, and it recalls a low-tech era when conversations moved more slowly. For hams like Thomas Witherspoon of North Carolina, using Morse code transmissions—sometimes abbreviated as CW, for “continuous wave”—offers a rare opportunity to accomplish tasks without high-tech help, like learning a foreign language instead of using a smartphone translator. “A lot of people now look only to tools. They want to purchase their way out of a situation.”

Morse code, on the other hand, requires you to use “the filter between your ears,” Witherspoon says. “I think a lot of people these days value that.” Indeed, some hams say that sending and receiving Morse code builds up neural connections that may not have existed before, much in the way that math or music exercises do. A 2017 study led by researchers from Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, and from University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands supports the notion that studying Morse code and languages alike boosts neuroplasticity in similar ways. [Continue reading…]