Germany's Shortwaveservice to stop most of its transmissions from 1 January 2026

[ChrisSmolinski]

From the WOR/DXLD mailing list:

The shortwave service will (largely) cease broadcasting at the end of the year. Christian Milling, the initiator of the shortwave transmitter in Kall-Krekel, announced this on the A-DX mailing list. Broadcasting began on November 25, 2007. Broadcasts on 6005 and 3985 kHz are scheduled to end on December 31.
 
Continued operation on 6085 kHz is still being examined. The former shortwave frequency of Bayerischer Rundfunk is now used for the broadcasts of Radio Mi Amigo. The program is reminiscent of the old days of offshore radio. The shortwave broadcasts currently run daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central European Time.
 
Therefore, broadcasting should be stopped

Christian Milling explains: "Most shortwave licenses in Germany expire on December 31, 2025. Connection allocations are possible, but entail significantly higher costs (previously €1,500 for ten years, in the future €4,000 for ten years). Since there are fewer and fewer shortwave licenses in Germany, the annual EMC contributions will also rise significantly, as the Federal Network Agency allocates the total costs to all active allocations. Without Lampertheim and a thinned-out Media Broadcast schedule, this means a significant additional burden for the rest."
 
In addition, there is a new administrative regulation for frequency allocations on shortwave. This has different media law requirements than ten years ago. "And honestly: shortwave is really 'over' in our part of the world. Except for the ego of individuals: zero relevance," says Milling. "Neither in disaster management nor as a terrestrial radio broadcasting method. If I look at the number of reception reports that are still coming in, 95 percent are 'via Twente SDR .' Come on, then listen to the webstream right away."
 
Everything has its time

Christian Milling concluded: "It was a great time, combined with a certain amount of pride in having opened the market to smaller players back then, even though the excesses were and still are often questionable. ... With that in mind, enjoy the remaining 3.5 months from Kall-Krekel. There will be no more QSLs. But at least the infrastructure will remain."

Translated from: https://www.radioblog.eu/2025/09/19/shortwaveservice-stellt-sendebetrieb-weitgehend-ein/

[NQC]

Hey Chris,

FWIW, I used to listen to Bayerischer
and others on 49M when I lived in
Germany.

These were simulcasts of AM ( and FM ?).

Some of the better German cars ( BMW, etc) had 49 M along with AM/ FM as a backup during  long cruises in Germany.

de NQC