Radio Caroline 648 rare QSL 30 Apr 2019

[Jock Wilson]

This reply is especially for fox558, but it might well be of particular interest to QSL hunters worldwide.

It concerns Radio Caroline, which is now a legal broadcaster on 648 kilocycles AM.

An enterprising stateside listener to the internet stream managed to listen to the 648 outlet via a  German SDR that was significantly beyond the expected range of the 1 kilowatt transmitter.

Next he e-mailed the station a detailed reception report and eventually received an E-QSL

http://qsl.philcobill.com/blog/?p=7166

[The Ether Hacker]

This reply is especially for fox558, but it might well be of particular interest to QSL hunters worldwide.

It concerns Radio Caroline, which is now a legal broadcaster on 648 kilocycles AM.

An enterprising stateside listener to the internet stream managed to listen to the 648 outlet via a  German SDR that wassignificantly beyond the expected range of the 1 kilowatt transmitter.

Next he e-mailed the station a detailed reception report and eventually received an E-QSL

http://qsl.philcobill.com/blog/?p=7166

I live quite significantly beyond the coverage of Radio Caroline's Orfordness 1kw 648 khz transmitter, on the Suffolk coast, UK.  I sent detailed reception reports, including details of my home made medium wave antenna, QTH, my receiver, detailed signal strength measurements over a number of evenings and daytimes, programme details..... right at the start of their test transmissions on medium wave one or two years back.

Needless to say, I never got a reply either by email or post... similar to some other DXers I know, so we presumed Caroline no longer did QSLs, postal or otherwise.

Maybe it sometimes takes years for them to reply, or they were overwhelmed by reception reports, at the start, ... you never know.

Ray, I think these two posts probably belong to the QSL section of the HF underground forum. Thanks.

[Jock Wilson]

Maybe your presumption no longer applies.

You can try again, and see what happens. If at first you don't succeed, ...................., as the saying goes.

You may be pleasantly surprised, but don't count your chickens!

A related situation:

I had tried to get my top 15 played on several occasions, unsuccessfully, until early January of this year. However, I had submitted that top 15 in mid July of last year.

I made some suggestions, one of which was to extend top 15s to the weekends. Another, involving more local contact with listeners, was also enacted.

About a fortnight ago I submitted another top15. It has also been accepted, so I will be able to compare how long it will take this time round for its transmission.

I await the update of the Presenter Profiles thread to include Graham Bannerman, the weekend top15 presenter. I have informed the station about this recently.

[Jock Wilson]

I can say for sure that Caroline continues to take rather a long time to broadcast a listener’s top 15, at least in my case. Another delay of around 5 months will occur. So, in my view anyone seeking a Caroline QSL needn’t hold his (or her) breath.

Perhaps it also warrants a mention that about a fortnight ago I noted on the free/pirate radio forum, aka Garry’s board, that a poster had stated the only way to listen to the station in MONO was via 648 Khz medium wave, direct or via an SDR. That is incorrect. Via Shoutcast I PREFER listening to the station’s live 24K MONO stream to listening to one of the station's live stereo streams.