Radio Kiev

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I seldom QSL non-ham stations, but when

WENR AM ran a DX test back in March, I sent

a reception report and received this E-QSL a

few days ago.

I have been monitoring 90.9 MHz for band openings, but nothing has occurred like the big E-skip opening on June 11. 

Conditions were promising this morning when I tuned through the NOAA weather channels and heard WXM60 in Southard, New Jersey on 162.450. Normally, 162.450 is dead quiet here, so any reception on .450 bodes well for the FM band. And I began monitoring 90.9.

There were stations just above the noise on 90.9, but I could not identify anything. One station was stronger briefly and announced a Missouri area code phone number, but that was not enough information to identify it (the “Missouri” station was playing jazz and none of the 90.9 Missouri FM stations listed on Radio-Locator had jazz as their format).  

And that’s all she wrote.

Swan Island Mail

Besides being a radio aficionado, I also dabble in philately and subscribe to a couple of stamp magazines.

The cover of the October 15 issue of Linn's Stamp News caught my eye with its display of a QSL card from Swan Island (HR6SWA, US NWS Upper Air Sounding Station). As it turns out, the magazine contains an extensive article about the history of Swan Island and its various inhabitants (including the RF variety).

Being a philately magazine, the article concentrates on how mail was handled to and from the island, but its mention of the radio operations is interesting nonetheless. The article is well illustrated and includes a number of QSL cards from the various Swan radio operations.

I found the article interesting from both a radio and philately perspective.

And I'm sure glad I kept the envelope that delivered my Radio Americas QSL card!

In today's mail

I mentioned here that I received WWV on 25 MHz. I did not mention that I e-mailed a reception report to the station. And I did not think anything more about it.

In today's mail, I received a surprise: a QSL card from WWV.

Instant QSL

Memorial Day afternoon, I was relaxing on the front porch listening to random shortwave stations as my C.Crane CC Skywave receiver scanned the bands. I logged four new ones including WRMI, Radio Miami International on 19 meters, which was broadcasting an interesting shortwave listener's program at the time.

At the end of the broadcast, they announced their address for reception reports, but I was conversing with my wife and missed the details. So I visited their website and found their e-mail address for reception reports. I cannot recall the last time I sent a reception report ― certainly not in this century, but I could not resist the ease of sending a report by e-mail and so I did.

Within minutes, WRMI confirmed my report in an e-mail with the cool QSL card pictured above attached.

Swan Island in my QSL Collection

I saved this QSL for last because it is for a medium wave station reception rather than a shortwave station reception and the validity of the verification is incomplete, which comes as no surprise due to the nature of this particular radio station.

I received Radio Americas, also know as Radio Swan, in early 1967 (my logs are misplaced, so I don't know the exact date). In response, I received a signed QSL card that is otherwise blank and does not mention the frequency, time nor date of my reception report.

A program schedule accompanied the QSL card and both were contained in an envelope postmarked Miami, but with two conflicting return addresses and a fake Swan Island postmark.

Back in 2008, I wrote the following in my weekly Surfin' column on the ARRL website:

In early 1967, I heard Radio Americas operating on 1160 kc. Honduras-to-Connecticut (almost 1600 miles) on the AM broadcast band is an excellent catch in anybody's logbook, but what made this one more interesting was that Radio Americas was supposedly a clandestine operation run by a secret government agency that was trying to undermine the Castro regime in Cuba.

At the time, the Radio Americas story was just speculation, but it was pretty exciting stuff for this teenager during the height of the Cold War and the era of Goldfinger and 007. Just the words "clandestine radio" sounded exciting and mysterious back then. Needless to say, I was shocked when the Radio Americas QSL card arrived in the mail, since I did not think that spies acknowledged their clandestine operations.

Radio Americas was indeed a CIA operation broadcasting US propaganda into Cuba during the 1960s. The station claimed to transmit from US territory, but the FCC claimed that it knew nothing about it!

United Kingdom to West Germany in my SWL QSL collection

Here are yet more QSLs from my mid-1960 shortwave listening days.

United Kingdom: BBC

United Nations: United Nations Radio

United States: Voice of America

United States: WINB

United States: WWV

United States: WWVH

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Radio Kiev

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Radio Moscow

Vatican: Radio Vatican

West Germany: Deutsche Welle

Mexico to Switzerland in my SWL QSL collection

Here are still more QSLs from my mid-1960 shortwave listening days.

Mexico: XEHH or XERR

This business card QSL is the smallest QSL in my collection. It was sent in the smallest envelope I have ever received through the mail. I misplaced my SWL logs, so I am not sure which station I heard XEHH or XERR, certainly not XERH on 1.500 kc.

Netherlands Antilles: Radio Nederland

Netherlands Antilles: Trans World Radio

A QSL booklet.

North Vietnam: Voice of Vietnam

I was surprised to receive this QSL because mail to and from North Vietnam was banned during the war. The postcard did not confirm anything, but the QSL letter did confirm my reception report and also noted that my report would be acknowledged on the air during the "Vietnam Mailbag." After the Radio Peking episode, I never showed this QSL to my father!

Portugal: Radio Portugal

Romania: Radio Bucharest

South Africa: Radio South Africa

Spain: Radio Nacional de Espana

Sweden: Radio Sweden

Switzerland: Swiss Broadcasting Corp.