A surprising FB message arrived last week from Ms. Kenita Litter Kokkonen, residing in São Lepoldo, Rio Grande do Sul – a suburban to Porto Alegre and some 500 km away from Porto Lucena where Rádio Navegantes is located and presently transmitting on 1360 AM.
I heard R Navegantes in late November 1995 during LEM87 on 1590 AM and rapidly got a three page letter signed by Prof. Leo Miguel Weschenfelder – Diretor – confirming my reception. He mentioned that he will copy his letter to some people with Finnish origin living in Rio Grande do Sul.
In June 1996 I received a letter from São Leopoldo written by Ingve Einnar Kokkonen who expressed his happiness to have received a copy of my reception report to R Navegantes. He tells, among other things, about his grand parents, Henrik and Ida Kokkonen who moved from Finland to Brazil in 1910.
Kenita Litter Kokkonen who sent the FB message is the grand daugther of said Ingve Einnar Kokkonen who wrote me the letter 17 years ago. He was then 84! She tells that she found my letter to Radio Navegantes when she was cleaning drawers in the house where she is living with her mother and her brother! What a small world!!!
Tells Kenita:
“Olá Jan-Erik Osterholm! Sou Kenita Litter Kokkonnen, brasileira e estou te escrevendo, pois estava organizando minhas coisas em meu quarto, quando localizei sua carta enviada para “radio navegantes” de Porto Lucena-Brasil no ano de 1996. Meu avô veio criança da Finlândia juntamente com sua família e ficaram residindo em Porto Lucena, onde minha mãe e seus irmãos nasceram. Na época que você enviou a carta para rádio, a prefeitura local encaminhou a carta aos únicos finlandeses do município. Atualmente residimos eu, meus irmão e minha mãe, aqui em São Leopoldo, no mesmo Estado – Rio Grande do Sul, que fica a 30km de Porto Alegre (capital) e 500Km de Porto Lucena. Alguns parentes ainda estão em Porto Lucena e arredores. Fico grata pela sua atenção e espero continuar fazendo contato.
Um grande abraço!”
Muito obrigado Kenita para o contato surpreendente!!!
This station has been logged at several occasions during this and last year in Scandinavia. The frequency, 1360, is usually “blocked” by Rádio Bandeirantes of Rio de Janeiro. The frequency however holds several non-common brazilians that have been irregularly logged here. Among these can be mentioned R Cultura, Paulo Afonso, CE; R Cidade, Pato Branco PR (rare); R Ouro Branco, Currais Novos, RN (rare) and ; R Belos Vales, Ibirama, SC.
I had the opportunity to hear R Iracema on May 8, 1999 (UTC) with good signal, and with the complete absence of the dominant R Bandeirantes. My report was confirmed by João Bosco Farias Aragão, Diretor Geral with a four page letter (that was the good old times!), three audio casetts, a huge amount of station information etc. We, that were active long ago, remember the feeling when we got a notice from the local post office that one should pick up a postage from abroad. This was always a thrill.
From the QSL-letter from R Iracema I cite:
“Confirmamos todos os detalhes por voce relatado em sua carta, relativos a nossa emissora tais como, identificacão: Rádio Iracema de Ipú, prefixo ZYH-650, 1360 kilohertz onda média, potencia de 1000 watts etc. No dia 7 de maio de 1999, quando foi sintonizada por voce aí na Finlandia, nossa estacão estava realmente transmitindo um programa semanal de música intitulado “Programa do Boris”, que vai ao ar todas as sextas-feiras, no horário de 20.0 as 23.00 horas. Para melhor comprovacão, estamos enviando anexo tres fitas, com gravacão de todo o programa do dia 21 de maio 1999, no qual fazemos referencia a sua carta”.
I include an mp3 audio below containing a fragment of the massive recordings I received.
ZYH650 R Iracema de Ipú, Ipú CE BRA 1360
The frequency 1470 kHz has for long been one of the best so called propagation indicator frequencies on the AM band here in Scandinavia. At least earlier, I used to first check this frequency to check where the signals were moving. A reason for that was – and still is – that 1470 is free of interferences from European stations, the closest European channels being on 1467 and 1476, respectively. And 1470 has turned out to be a gold mine that never disappoints DXers, whether we look for catches from US/Canada, Central America, Orinoco, the Andean countries, Brazil or the La Plata region. During my years, I have received QSLs from 31 stations in South America transmitting on 1470. In addition to these many stations from US, México and the Caribbean. And the funny thing is, the frequency never seems to disappoint us, new stations are regularly heard.
A personally nice memory is the logging, on June 2, 1991, of ZYH665 Radio Guanacés de Itapajé, CE, BRA. The station was first logged in Finland by Pertti Äyräs on May 20, 1991 only two weeks after the station went on air on May 5, 1991. At the time of these logings the name Rádio Guanacés was not listed but WRTH1991 Edition listed a Brazilian CP-station as Rádio A Voz de Itapajé Limitada. I sent a tentative report including an old fashioned tape recording to Itapajé with the question whether the station really was on air. I received a very nice confirmation from José Ezaclyr Montenegro, Diretor Artístico and Eldo Rios Louzada, Diretor Geral together with half a kilogram of Brazilian coffee (!), station materials and a 60 min cassette including beautiful Brazilian music from the program “Super Paradao Sertanejo” and a long personal greeting which can be heard on the enclosed mp3 audio file.
Today Rádio Guanacés has an agenda focusing on the value conflicts arising within the local and national social sectors and finding a solution to the same. Rádio Guanacés continuously help local institutions in democratic debates concerning the region of Itapajé Uruburetama.
ZYH665 Rádio Guanacés de Itapajé, Itapajé, CE BRA 1470
This Old stuff post is intended to wake up some memories of the past, when LA-DX on shortwaves comprised the gold mine for listeners.
In late May 1990 very good conditions towards especially Bolivia in the 90, 60 and 49 meter bands shortwave was observed here in Finland. An andinian station was unexpectedly heard on 4981.5v kHz, between Ecos del Torbes, Venezuela on 4980 and R Brasil Central, Brasil on 4985 kHz with rather good signal strength. I got the ID “Radiodifusoras Minería” on May 19, 1990 but, according to WRTH 1990 this station, officially listed on 4985, should have been inactive at that time. The first logging of this station in Finland was done one day earlier, on May 18, 1990 by Ilkka Suni (IS).
In order to confirm the logging, I called Henrik Klemetz (HK) in Umeå, Sweden and discussed the matter and I also sent him a recording of the logging. This was the first connection to HK since I started DXing in 1963 and since then we have, should I say, been in very close contact digging into the mysteries of Latin American DXing. Henrik has been instrumental in solving a huge number of so called unidentified loggings, not only for me, but for very many DXers all around the world due to his excellent knowledge of Latin American radio, his deep knowledge in the Spanish language and being a DX-listener himself.
On May 24, 1990 HK called up Radiodifusoras Mineria in Oruro, Bolivia and had a chat with Sr. Wilfredo Navarro in the middle of a transmission so HK’s phone call was aired all over the Altiplanos. Please listen to the conversation on the below audio mp3:
Radio Difusoras Mineria_HK_24.5.1991
Resulting from HK’s call was a very nice QSL-letter from Dr. José Carlos G´mez Espinoza, Gerente y Director General de Radiodifusoras Mineria who also included a very nice pennant and other materials of this re-activated “new” bolivian.
NOTE from Henrik Klemetz: Radio Minería has been off the air for several years, both on SW and MW, says Angel Oquendo, who is from Oruro. Wilfredo Navarro Amurrio passed away in June 2001.
This is the last story about pennants from Latin American radio stations from my collection. Hope you have enjoyed it although the quality of the pictures could have been more professional. Nostalgia after all – as Ole Forr so kindly commented.
The stations presented below are; R Oriental 770; R Carve 850; R Paysandú 1240; R Maldonado 1560; R San Carlos 1510; R Charitas 6110; R Chaco Boreal 1330; R Concepción 1380v; R Arequipa 5948; R Huancayo 1470; R Quillabamba 5025; R Tacna 9404; R Frequencia Lider 4418; R Frontera 4760; Ecos del Torbes 4980;
Pennants from the following colombian radiostations are presented: Emisora Atlántico 1070; La Voz de la Patria 1310; La Voz de Cartagena 1270; La Voz del Centro 6095; Radio Miramar de Cartagena 680; Emisora Nueva Granada 6160; R Piloto 1370; La Vos de los Centauros 5990; La Voz del Pueblo 5995; R Santa Fe 4965; R Villaviecencio 1290&4885; R Tequendama 770; R Bucaramanga 4845; R Reloj Cali 1110; Transmisora Caldas 5020; R Colosal 4945; La Voz del Huila ; R Dif Nacional 6180; Super R 4875; R Guatapurí 4915; R Libertad 600.
Golden were the days when the stations carried theri old exotic names and not e.g. RCN Cali; RCN Medellín; Oxigeno Tunja; etc etc.
Below some pennants from Bolivia from my collection. The pennants come from; R Libertad 5045; R Emisora 9 de Abril 3200; R Nacional Huanuni 5965; R Onkoi 4808; R Fides 4845; R Integracion 6125; R Difusoras Minería 4975; R El Mundo 1050; R TV Popular 6195; R Caranavi 1550; R Bermejo 1590 and R Emisora Padilla 3475.
Note the ARC (Arctic Radio Clube) logo (the letters ARC in the announcers hat replaced by the letters REM!) in the pennant, and also inte letter heads of Radio Emisora Padilla.
Some Central American pennants I have received from Latin American radio stations during the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s are presented here. Pennants from South America will follow.
The QSL-letters received in the past by snail mail, especially if they where thick and containing a nice pennant, was one of the highlights of the past for a DXer. Today we can only hope that our email responses also include some logos (which of course can be downloaded from the web), and more importantly, some authentic and personal station audio recordings. Time passes and we as DXers have to adjust to the changing world. And we have done just that! Some 10 years ago many DXers argued that QSLs received by email could not be accepted. All of them, or at least 90% of them, have changed their minds. The same happened with the introduction of SDRs – many of us looked upon these equipments as not true equipments for DXing. It was more or less seen as cheating! Surprisingly – or maybe not – most DXers, if not all, are nowadays equipped with SDRs in their DX endeavours! SDRs are for DXers as are the doping methods in sports….?
Pertti Äyräs and myself have many times discussed and memorized the situation on the AM band during the late 60’s and early 70’s during our many peditions together. How could it be possible, e.g., to catch so many very rare Latin American stations in downtown Turku with either an indoor loop or some wires of 30-100m in lenght? And the band was filled and clear! One can only imaging what the result had been if SDRs had been in place at that time with no interferences from the massive disturbances of today resulting from high density of household electronics. And at that time, the EU-stations had moderately week transmitters. Oh those good old days!
americadx 