Tag Archives: Christoph Ratzer

Video: A virtual tour of the Aihkiniemi DXing base in Lapland, northern Finland

Many thanks to SWLing Post Contributor, Christoph Ratzer, who recently shared the following video tour by Mika Mäkeläinen. Mika desxribes this video on YouTube:

Join me on a virtual tour of the Aihkiniemi DXing base in Lapland, in northern Finland. This is a nonscripted five-cent tour looking at what the Aihkiniemi cabin can offer for visiting AM DXers. The video was shot in November 2020 during DXpedition AIH124 – meaning that during the first decade of its existence, Aihkiniemi has already hosted 124 successful expeditions. The antennas (a total of 14 Beverage-type wire antennas) are permanent, but participants bring their own receivers and laptops. There’s one essential activity missing from this video though: checking the antennas, which is a major job. Every DXer is expected to check – and if necessary, clean and repair – all the antennas, which run in the forests around the cabin. So there might be a part 2 in the future.

Wow! This little DXing cabin is on my bucket list. I will, someday, make my way to north Finland and spend time DXing from this unique reception spot. The quality of the equipment and antennas is truly amazing.

Thanks for the tip, Christoph!

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Listening to Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel (LRA36) on the Icom IC-756 Pro transceiver

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Christoph Ratzer (OE2CRM), who is well aware that I’m a fan of LRA36, so sent me a tip Saturday (September 26, 2020) at 19:40 UTC that LRA36 was being received in Europe.

I had been working a few POTA stations that afternoon, so simply tuned the IC-756 to 15476 kHz USB–the ‘656 Pro was connected to my large horizontal delta loop antenna. I was rewarded with excellent weak-signal reception from the Argentine Antarctic research station. The signal was surprisingly clear even though the signal was still near noise level.

Here’s a short video (hoping YouTube won’t remove it since there’s music involved–!):

Since the LRA36 signal was in upper sideband mode, the IC-756 Pro was exceptionally well suited to the task! The more I use this transceiver, the more I love it.

Thanks again for the tip, Christoph!

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Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel returning to air July 27, 2015

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QSLs received by Christoph Ratzer

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Cristoph Ratzer, who shares this exciting news via the DXLD; Manuel Méndez notes:

ANTARCTICA, 15476, LRA36, Rado Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel, Base Esperanza. After months of [silence], LRA 36 will return to the air the 27th of July.
This is the mail I received from the station with this news:

“Estimado Manuel buen día, en este momento estamos en un periodo de receso hasta el día 27 de julio que comenzaremos la transmisión normal como la veníamos llevando.
Atte: Sergio LUCERO „

Thanks for passing this along, Christoph! My goal this year is to verify Base Esperanza on 15,476 kHz!

I’ve been fascinated with this station ever since listening to Christian’s recording last year.