More QSL Rarities for 2015

All India Radio (AIR) external and domestic services, both on medium-wave and short-wave, have  radiated well over the years in to South East Asia. The greater problem with AIR has never been so much reception but rather it has been in obtaining verification for many of their domestic stations. So, it was with immense  delight when many QSL cards for their domestic stations arrived in the letterbox this year.

To receive these verification cards I submitted reception reports, usually but not always, with audio files to Spectrum Management. These were sent by both email and post. This successful run of domestic QSLs began in 2013 and hit an all-time high of six this year, including:

All India Radio Srinagar

All India Radio Chennai  

All India Radio Bhopal  

All India Radio Hyderabad

All India Radio Jaipur  

All India Radio Lucknow

All India Radio Kurseong

All India Radio Port Blair 

All India Radio Thiruvananthapuram

All India Radio Cuddapah

All India Radio Shillong

All India Radio Visakhapatnam

All India Radio Jeypore  

All India Radio Rajkot

Not all reception reports of AIR stations garnered QSLs in the past few years. Some stations remain just as elusive as before, among them being:  All India Radio Aizawl, All India Radio Cuttack, All India Radio Gangtok, All India Radio Kolkata and All India Radio Nagpur.

The external service (General Overseas Service) of All India Radio via transmitter sites in Aligarh, Bengaluru, Kingsway, New Delhi,  and  Panaji have been much easier to QSL over the years. 

Why bother to QSL so many All India Radio stations? Isn't one QSL sufficient to show confirmation for the country of India? It depends. One, the AIR stations on medium-wave and short-wave are out there for the listening and verification. And two, some AIR stations count as a separate country, at least according to North American Shortwave Association (NASWA). Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands), Panaji (Goa), Kashmir and Sikkim are considered individual countries, owing to their unique colonial past.

Again, the lesson here is to be patient and enjoy the hobby!!!