Tag Archives: QSL

QSL: Australian Radiofax Received in Brazil

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes:

For the first time, I received in Porto Alegre a noisy radiofax from the Bureau of Meteorology of Australia: Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) map.

Frequency of 20469 kHz USB, 08h45 UTC.

Radiofax (noisy)

Original

My request for a QSL card was kindly answered (attached along the radiofax and the original chart from BoM’s website). Notice that BoM’s transmitter is 1 KW only!

I realize that your Radiofax decode wa noisy, but I feel like that’s an impressive feat considering the distance involved, the fact that your radio was a portable, and their output power was only 1,000 watts. Proper Radiofax DX! Thanks for sharing! 

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How to Earn the W9IMS 2023 Checkered Flag Award

Once, Twice, Three Times a QSO: How to Earn the W9IMS 2023 Checkered Flag Award

By Brian D. Smith

Two out of three ain’t bad, proclaims the late ’70s classic rock song. But three out of three gets you the Checkered Flag Award from W9IMS.

That’s another way of reminding you that the third Indianapolis Motor Speedway special event of 2023, honoring NASCAR’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, will take to the amateur radio airwaves starting at midnight Indy time (0400 UTC) on Monday, August 7, and ending at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 13 (0359 Monday, August 14 UTC).

Those who chalked up contacts or receptions during both of the first two special events in May – commemorating the IndyCar Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 – now have the opportunity to complete the clean sweep and qualify for the colorful Checkered Flag certificate.

But even if you’re just getting up to speed on the Speedway special event, or have caught only one of the two special events so far, you’re still in the running – not for a Checkered Flag Award (that’ll have to wait till 2024), but for one or more of the three collectible QSL cards that commemorate the individual races.

How to find W9IMS? The station operates primarily on 20 and 40 meters, but sometimes adds 80 meters later in the week (and occasionally 2 meters on Race Day for locals and fans in the stands at the Speedway). Preferred frequencies are 14.245 and 7.245 SSB, plus or minus QRM.

And the following suggestion will enhance your chances of putting W9IMS in your log:

  1. Check DX Summit (www.dxsummit.fi) for spots listing the current frequency or frequencies of W9IMS, if any. By typing “W9IMS” in the search box at upper right, you can customize it to show reports for only Indianapolis Motor Speedway special events. Naturally, you’ll be interested in only the ones from August 2023.
  1. Follow this link to the W9IMS web page (www.w9ims.org) and look for the heading, “2023 Operating Schedule.” Click on the NASCAR 200 link, which opens into a weeklong schedule listing individual operators and their reserved timeslots. Your odds of catching W9IMS on the air improve significantly during these hours.
  1. Prime operating time on weeknights is 6 to 10 p.m. Indy time (2200-0200 UTC). However, W9IMS can appear anytime, even on two bands at once, between 0400 Monday, August 7, and 0359 Sunday, August 13.
  1. Operators often get on the air at unscheduled times. That’s why DX Summit is your best bet for locating W9IMS’s current frequency (or frequencies).
  1. If you plan on applying for the 2023 Checkered Flag Award, remember that the three required W9IMS special event QSOs (or reception reports) must come from all of the year’s three races – the Grand Prix, the 500 and the Brickyard. Making three contacts during the coming week still earns you the colorful Brickyard QSL card, but no extra credits toward the certificate.
  1. Remember that the published schedule can be shortened by adverse circumstances, such as noisy band conditions, local thunderstorms or a lack of calling stations. Don’t wait till the final day and hour to chase W9IMS!
  1. If you want to get off to the earliest possible start, keep an ear on 20 meters at midnight Monday (Indy time) and listen for a YL operator. Cathy Harris, W9QKR, is slated to kick off the festivities from 12-2 a.m. (0400-0600 UTC).
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2023 W9IMS Special Event Station Details!

W9IMS Accelerates into Another Special Event Season – with a Chance for an Indy Racing Certificate 

By Brian D. Smith

It’s back to the track for collectors of W9IMS cards and certificates.

The first of this year’s three special events tied to the major races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will begin at midnight Eastern Time (0400 UTC) this Sunday, May 7, and continue through 11:59 p.m. (0359 UTC) the following Saturday, May 13.

And for hams and SWLs, your chance for a 2023 Checkered Flag Award begins – and could end – with it. To earn the certificate, you’ll need to contact or tune in W9IMS during all three special events this year: the Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 (May 22-28) and the NASCAR 200 at the Brickyard (August 7-13).

Catch W9IMS during Grand Prix week and you’re one-third of the way to Victory Lane. Miss it and you’ll have to wait till 2024 for another shot at the certificate.

So when and where do you find W9IMS? Any time of the day or night is possible, but prime time is from 6 to 10 p.m. (2200-0200 UTC) weekdays, and the prime bands are 40 and 20 meters (generally around 7.245 and 14.245 MHz). And this year, improved solar conditions could prompt a rare move to 15 and 10 meters, likely around 21.350 or 28.340 MHz.

The choice of frequencies will be gametime decisions based on a variety of factors, including QRM, band openings and the number of calling stations. So your surest move is to check W9IMS spots, which are frequently posted on DX Summit (www.dxsummit.fi).

While some on-air times are unscheduled, you can also increase your odds by going to the W9IMS QRZ page (www.w9ims.com) and clicking the Grand Prix link under the heading “2023 Operating Schedule” – which displays the shifts that operators have already signed up for.

If time is running short, listen for happy hour – the last blast on Race Day (May 13 for the Grand Prix), usually starting at 11 p.m. Indy time (0300 UTC). That’s when W9IMS ops traditionally switch to contest-style QSOs and exchange only signal reports so they can work as many stations as possible. But remember that W9IMS special events can end early if the station encounters sparse QSOs or adverse solar or weather conditions.

Should you manage to bag W9IMS, don’t celebrate for too long: The Indianapolis 500 special event begins on May 22, only 9 days after the end of Grand Prix week. Then comes the longer wait till the NASCAR race in August.

You’ll qualify for a new and unique QSL card for each W9IMS event you log, regardless of whether you snare all three in ’23. But why not complete the set and nab the certificate – starting with the first race this coming week?

Hams and SWLs alike are eligible for any and all W9IMS cards and certificates; you can even QSL via the bureau. And if you forgot to send in your information from a previous year, it’s still possible to obtain nearly all of the previous cards and certificates. Consult the W9IMS QRZ page for full details.

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Radio Waves: BBC Bangla Closure, QSL Book Review, Vintage Radio Enthusiast, and Radio Tirana

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!

Many thanks to Dennis Dura for many of these tips!


BBC Bangla issues its final broadcast after 81 years (Global Voices)

The new year was bittersweet for many Bengali radio fans this year, as listeners learned that BBC Bangla Radio would stop airing on December 31, 2022, after an 81-year run. In the years leading up to its closure, two sets of half-hour programs were aired each day on shortwave and FM bands in the morning and evening. The webpage was archived as soon as the night programs finished on the last day, closing the chapter on the iconic British Broadcasting Channel segment.

In an effort to cut spending and follow media trends, BBC World Service will be pivoting toward increased digital offerings, leading them to shut down radio-wave broadcasts in several international languages. BBC Bangla will continue as a digital-only multimedia channel in a limited capacity.

Bangla (Bengali) is the seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world. Spoken by approximately 261 million worldwide, it is the primary language in the region of Bengal, comprising Bangladesh (61 percent of speakers) and the Indian state of West Bengal (37 percent of speakers). [Continue reading…]

Ham Radio’s Paper Trail (Disquiet)

A new book from Standard Manual

A trove of more than 150 such QSL cards, formerly owned by an operator who went by the call sign W2RP, was obtained by designer Roger Bova. Bova then collaborated with the book imprint Standards Manual (full disclosure: I’ve done some work with the publisher’s parent company, the design firm Order) to collect them into a handsome volume. I’m reprinting some of the images here, with the publisher’s permission.

W2RP, as it turns out, was no ordinary “amateur.” W2RP was the late Charles Hellman, who lived to the age of 106. The cards obtained by Bova are both a visual map and a physical manifestation of the numerous conversations he participated in over what is said to have likely been the longest continuously active ham license, more than 90 years. Hellman first obtained his license at the age of 15. Some historical context: he was born in 1910, one year after the Nobel Prize in Physics went to Guglielmo Marconi and Karl Ferdinand Braun for their pioneering work in radio. Hellman himself taught physics in Manhattan and the Bronx, and two of his students reportedly went on to win the Nobel in physics. (More on his remarkable life at qcwa.org.) [Continue reading…]

Click here to read more about the book at the publisher’s website.

GUEST COLUMN: Vintage radios dial up a lesson in life (OrilliaMatters.com)

‘It would be the understatement of the year to say there were a lot of radios and radio-related paraphernalia’ at Chevy Halladay’s Orillia home

As I crossed the porch toward the side door of Chevy Halladay’s century home near Orillia, I had no idea what to expect. The door opened before I could knock, Chevy extended his arm to shake hands, and welcomed me into his home.

To my right was a small closet where I could hang my coat. I missed the hook, sending the coat to the floor. I was much too distracted to waste another second on hanging it neatly. To my left was a huge, free-standing mid-50s radio and TV tube testing machine stacked high with rare tubes, a six-foot-tall floor clock and radio with a built-in turntable, and a vintage Coca Cola vending machine. Each piece had been carefully restored for appearance and functionality.

A single step further into the room brought Chevy’s, and his wife Maggie’s, kitchen counter into view. Atop it were two partially restored radios, one a jumble of dusty tubes and a speaker early into the process, the other a spectacular and rare wood-cased Stromberg-Carlson, being prepared for final refinishing before being shipped to a friend in Bethesda, Maryland.

Don’t misunderstand. This was no hoarder’s enclave or home transformed into a ramshackle workshop. Their house is immaculate, and Maggie is on-side with Chevy’s mono-themed interior decorating style, yet it would be the understatement of the year to say there were a lot of radios and radio-related paraphernalia everywhere.

There was not an inch of wall that wasn’t shelved to display countless historic radios, or covered with hanging wall clocks that were used as promotional items by radio companies, steel promotional signs, framed advertising posters, or other memorabilia. [Continue reading…]

Voice from the East – an original hour long documentary from Monitor Production in Sound

Between 1970 and 1991 a woman, never named and with a sonorous antipodean accent, could be heard broadcasting some of the most extraordinary communist propaganda ever heard amongst the radio stations of the former socialist countries.

Radio Tirana broadcast from Albania – at one time Europe’s most secretive and closed country.

The transmissions were the source of enormous fascination for one 13 year old boy who listened to the programmes at bath time, with increasing amazement.

53 year old journalist John Escolme was that 13 year old.

We join his journey to track down the mystery broadcaster who not only recalls her life on-air, but her own extraordinary personal story – one that took her from remote New Zealand to an eccentric Stalinist regime rarely visited by anyone from the west. [Click here for original article.]


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Radio Prague QSL Cards for 2023

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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A most unusual QSL . . . card?

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

Okay, I realize this is ham related, but I thought it was fun, and I hope you do too.

On a quiet Saturday morning in May, the “Big Gun” Motorola 1250 (which is used for running the Commuter Assistance Net) is quietly scanning through half a dozen frequencies.

The scanning stops on the 147.330 repeater, and a computer voice announces: “Echolink activated.”

Huh, that’s unusual, I think.

According to echolink.org, here’s the scoop on EchoLink:

EchoLink® software allows licensed Amateur Radio stations to communicate with one another over the Internet, using streaming-audio technology.  The program allows worldwide connections to be made between stations, or from computer to station, greatly enhancing Amateur Radio’s communications capabilities.  There are more than 350,000 validated users worldwide — in 159 of the world’s 193 nations — with about 6,000 online at any given time.

A few seconds later, a male voice with a distinct British accent drops a call on the repeater: “GB2022ER.”

What?!! A Great Britain call sign with multiple numbers in the middle? What’s going on?

I reply: KB2GOM.

Mark, the British ham, tells me he is running a special events station with a special call sign to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee. He tells me I am the very first contact for the special events station. I tell him that he is my very first Echolink contact.

We chat for a bit, exchange good wishes and sign off.

A bit later, I look him up on QRZ and send Mark an email. Since I am his first contact for the special events station, is there a QSL card available? He replies that he will see what he can do.

A few weeks later, an envelope arrives with this coaster inside:

For a moment, I felt like James Bond:

Also inside were these postcards:

In all, it made me smile.

Bottom line – moral of the story, if you will – you never know what’s going to happen on the radio.

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W9IMS: From the Speedway to Your Wall

From the Speedway to Your Wall: Taking the W9IMS Checkered Flag

By Brian D. Smith, W9IND

The Checkered Flag is in sight – for hams and SWLs who’ve completed two-thirds of the chase for the annual W9IMS certificate. And for those who haven’t, there’s still a special QSL card awaiting all who snare the final contact during the coming week.

As its initials imply, W9IMS stages special events in honor of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s three major races. The third and final operation of 2022 – commemorating the NASCAR 200 at the Brickyard – will activate between the hours of midnight Indy time (0400 UTC) Monday, July 25, and midnight Sunday, July 31 (0400 UTC Tuesday, August 1).

Earning the 2022 Checkered Flag Award depends on working or tuning in each of the three special events. Since the first two races (the IndyCar Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500) ran in May, it’s obviously too late to claim the clean sweep.

However, W9IMS also issues collectible QSL cards for the three individual races, so there’s still time to get a piece of the action.

Where to start? Well, W9IMS favors 20 and 40 meters, sometimes adding 80 meters later in the week (not to mention 2 meters on Race Day for locals and fans in the stands at the Speedway). Preferred frequencies are 14.245 and 7.245 SSB, plus or minus QRM.

But rather than spin the dial, try scanning the following tips for finding W9IMS on the air:

  1. Check DX Summit (www.dxsummit.fi) for spots listing the current frequency or frequencies of W9IMS, if any. By typing “W9IMS” in the search box at upper right, you can customize it to show reports for only Indianapolis Motor Speedway special events. Naturally, you’ll be interested in only the ones from July 2022.
  2. Go to the W9IMS web page (www.w9ims.org) and look for the heading, “2022 Operating Schedule.” Click on the NASCAR 200 link, which opens into a weeklong schedule listing individual operators and their reserved time slots. Your odds of catching W9IMS on the air improve significantly during these hours.
  3. Prime operating time on weeknights is 6 to 10 p.m. Indy time (2200-0200 UTC). However, W9IMS can appear anytime, even on two bands at once, between 0400 Monday, July 25, and 0400 Sunday, July 31.
  4. Remember that the published schedule can be shortened by adverse circumstances, such as noisy band conditions, local thunderstorms or a lack of calling stations. Don’t wait till the final hour to chase W9IMS!
  5. Operators often get on the air at unscheduled times. That’s why DX Summit is your best bet for locating W9IMS’s current spot(s).
  6. If you plan on going for the 2023 Checkered Flag Award, remember that the three required W9IMS special event QSOs (or reception reports) must come from each of the year’s three races – the Grand Prix, the 500 and the Brickyard. Making three contacts during the coming week still earns you the colorful Brickyard QSL card, but no extra credits toward the 2022 certificate.
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