Source: Base Esperanza – Antártida
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Adrian Korol, who shares the following notice from the Argentine Antarctic station, LRA36:
Saturday, July 11, from 1400 to 1500 UTC, a test broadcast from LRA 36 Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel on 15476 khz using USB.
Thank you for the tip, Adrian!
Source: Base Esperanza – Antártida
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Harald Kuhl, who notes that LRA36 (Radio Nacional Arcángel San Gabriel) has published the following new email address to be used for reception reports: [email protected]
Thanks for sharing this Harald as I have not had luck with the former email address. I’ll re-submit my last report!
Source: Base Esperanza – Antártida
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tracy Wood, who writes:
I listened to LRA36 streaming this past Friday with their special show, including callouts to other Argentine scientific stations via satphone and lots of greetings by ham radio enthusiasts, both recorded and via live call-in.
Source: Base Esperanza – Antártida
…At the conclusion the announcer said they would be back this Monday at 1800 Buenos Aires time or 2100 UTC.
Details about last Friday’s broadcast:
http://www.radionacional.com.ar/continuan-las-emisiones-especiales-en-lra-36-arcangel-san-gabriel/
Source: Base Esperanza – Antártida
The audio stream is only up when LRA36 is on the air apparently but is at the Radio Nacional website under the audio streams listing:”
http://vmf.edge-apps.net/
Thank you so much for sharing this, Tracy! It’s incredibly difficult for me to snag LRA36 broadcasts off the air, so it’ll be nice to have this stream link as well.
I also recently received a note about LU1ZV: the amateur radio station at the Esperanza Antarctic Base. What follows is a rough English translation of the press release. Click here to download the original press release in Spanish (MS Word Doc).
Source: Base Esperanza – Antártida
Started on December 8, the activation of the LU1ZV amateur radio station of the Antarctic Base Esperanza, after years of being inactive.
The radio activity of LU1ZV has as primary objective to remember the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the transmission of the radio station LRA 36 “Arcángel San Gabriel” of the Esperanza Base, the first shortwave station in AM across Antarctica, which began broadcasting on October 20,1979. In addition, this activity seeks to maintain the continuity of emission of stations of radio amateurs from Antarctica.
The LU1ZV activation has registered more than 900 contacts with amateur radio stations
nationally and abroad, and in addition to covering all regions of the country, they have already
Source: Base Esperanza – Antártida
contacted twenty-two Argentine provinces.
Among the most relevant data that LU1ZV activity exhibits so far are the distant radio contacts (despite the low emission power) as in the case of Japan, Canada, Latvia, Ukraine and Finland among others. They have contacted most South American countries, several of Central American countries and all from North America.
Another outstanding contact was made with VP8HAL, the Halley VI scientific station of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), located in the Brunt Ice Barrier, about 1,700 km SE of Hope.
The operation of LU1ZV is carried out from the study of LRA 36 and the rhombic antenna of the station, while the station isn’t operating. The amateur radio station activity adapts to the general schedule of the base and of LRA36, so activation times are reduced to a few hours during the evening – night.
The Head of Hope Base, Lieutenant Colonel Norman Walter Nahueltripay was present during some contacts and received greetings from radio correspondents.
This special activation also includes the project “Uniendo Voces” of the National University of Quilmes (UNQ) of the province of Buenos Aires, an initiative that included areas of interest to amateur radio and Antarctic activations, and which was presented to the
Antarctic Joint Command (COCOANTAR).
“Uniendo Voces” has participated in these radio activations since 2013 (in Marambio Base and Matienzo) to which the historical emission from Base Esperanza is now added, within the framework of a special initiative called “DX Radial Expedition Uniting Voices”.
The amateur Radio Claudio García (LU1VC) member of the LRA 57 Radio Nacional de El
Bolsón (province of Chubut) and Juan C. Benavente (LU8DBS) of COCOANTAR and UNQ, perform the activation for which they had to move equipment to that Antarctic base.
The radio activation of Esperanza has the support and collaboration of Adrián Korol,
director of the Argentine Broadcasting Abroad (RAE) who expressed his emotion and
satisfaction for “this joint achievement with the Antarctic Command and the National University of Quilmes. “
Antarctic bases are licensed by amateur radio stations, and like all the activity, is regulated by the National Communications Agency (ENACOM). These radio activations have a “high symbolic and real value”, as Korol says, and they contribute, in addition to remembering ephemeris, to the promotion of sovereignty in the Antarctic region from the radio spectrum.
Likewise, the amateur radio activity contributes to the study of communications – such as
radio wave propagation conditions- and keeps an alternative communication service active and effective.
Many Argentine radio amateurs from different parts of the country are attentive to the
calls from LU1ZV and collaborate with the initiative.”
Along with the photos and LU1ZV press release above, I also received press releases from two special broadcasts that happened earlier. Click here and here to download the MS Word documents in Spanish.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Adrian Korol, who writes:
On December 10 [today], a new President will assume office in Argentina. The ceremony will be re-broadcast from LRA36 at 1200 UTC on 15476 still with the emergency Collins transmitter, less than 1 kw but with better antenna conditions.
Many thanks for the tip, Adrian!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Richard Schreiber, who writes:
Hi Thomas,
After reading recent SWLing Post articles on LRA36 and Radio Kuching, thought I’d send along these images of QSL cards from both stations – dating back to 1981 and 1977 respectively.
I lived in Colorado at the time and heard both Kuching, Sarawak, and Argentine Antarctica from time to time and was fortunate enough to receive QSL’s.
You’ll notice on the envelope the special postmark of the Esperanza Army Base in Argentine Antarctica. In those days the covers were often as interesting as the cards.
73
Thanks for sharing those QSL cards, Richard! I think this is the first time I’ve seen an LRA36 QSL from the early 80s. Those cars are to be treasured!
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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Giuseppe Morlè, who writes:
Ciao Thomas,
I’m Giuseppe Morlè, iz0gzw, from Formia, central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea … this is what I managed to hear about the 40 years of transmission of LRA 36 from the Antarctic Argentina to 15,476 …I took two receivers and two different antennas to the sea … the Kenwood R1000 was connected to my tested “Simil beverage on salt Ground” with salt water tip and the Tecsun PL-660 to my Loop Mea Casali self-built …
Both antennas are directed to SSW where we find the LRA36 station …
The main problem was the boring and tragic Chinese Jammer that strongly raged on 15.470 until 15.00 UTC and then calmed down a bit so I could hear the last part of the transmission with fading and spoken female and male in Spanish …
On the Tecsun and the loop I have not found the station …but on my Kenwood R1000 and my similar beverage on salt grond I listened to about 13 minutes of final transmission.
You can watch the video on my YouTube channel at the link:
Thanks to you and a warm greeting from Italy.
Giuseppe Morlè iz0gzw.
Wow! Great catch, Giuseppe! I understand the Chinese jammer made it difficult, but obviously your antennas did the trick. I tried to catch the same broadcast from home, but only received a very faint signal. Most of the audio was lost in the noise.
Thank you for sharing.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Adrian Korol, who shares the photo above and video below of the LRA36 crew heading to the broadcast building on the Argentine Antarctic Research Station this morning.
Adrian has also provided the following broadcast schedule (in Spanish) for the anniversary program:
This frequency has not yet opened to eastern North America, but I will be listening today, all day. I have noted that there are few KiwiSDR stations in South America available at the moment. No doubt, listeners are taking up the available seats in hopes of hearing the anniversary broadcast.
I suspect this may be one of the largest audiences LRA36 has broadcast to over its 40 years on the air!
Post Readers: If you manage to capture a good recording of the broadcast, I’d love to post it on the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive.
