After over a year of trying to obtain a verification from Radio Republik Indonesia Palembang (Pro-1), a domestic medium-wave station in South Sumatra, I received 'verbal' confirmation from them earlier this month (November). Previous emails, Facebook messages and letters went unanswered. So, when all means of written communication failed to yield a QSL, I turned to my foster son Adi in Palembang.
 |
| RRI Palembang |
Adi, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, is a DJ at a rival station in Palembang -- Sonora FM 102,6. Through his efforts, he hand delivered my reception report and audio CD to the RRI Palembang station manager. After walking through the history of my endeavour to contact them and explaining the nature of a QSL card, he succeeded in acquiring this veri from them.
 |
| Reception report and CD |
I initially reported logging RRI Palembang in June 2016, then monitored them again a few times this year (2017). When first received their signal practically dominated the medium-wave frequency of
1287 kHz and held steady through the evening hours with minimal fading and interference. At some point later in the year their transmission seemed to cease, then resume around the month of Ramadan. By then, their signal was terribly over-modulated and so distorted it made for unbearable listening over any length of time.
Finally, in October of this year, the station was received again, apparently with the transmitter repaired, as their audio feed was much clearer. Only now, co-frequency interference from a station in eastern Thailand (possibly in Ubon Ratchathani province) mixed with their signal at near equal strength.
 |
| Checking content of CD |
Radio Republik Indonesia Palembang (PRO-1) is normally heard in the Kuala Lumpur area under good conditions in the early morning and late night. RRI Palembang station manager confirmed as much when she confided that their signal has been received well by other listeners in Singapore and Malaysia.
For this particular QSL, my report was based on reception of their transmission from 14.05 till 15.00 UTC (09.05 till 10.00 pm, Palembang time) that aired on 23 October 2017. Reception rated a SINPO of 53533 -- strong signal, clear audio despite occasional interference from the aforementioned Thai station, which drifted in every two to three minutes when RRI Palembang faded under.
Content of this Indonesian language broadcast included Indo pop tunes, some with a seemingly Dutch influence, commentary on the songs, advertisements / promotions and station IDs.
HERE and
HERE is an idea of the programming and quality of reception observed in Malaysia.
Hopefully the written confirmation will soon be forthcoming. To RRI Palembang and Adi, terima kasih!
Website:
www.rri.co.id/palembang/home.html
Address:
Nineteen-hundred-and-fifty-four. It is probably an insignificant year in the 20th century for most people. For me, however, it is the year of my birth and quite naturally has special importance. The social, political, sporting and entertainment milestones in that year not only had specific ramifications at the time, each later affected my life in one way or another. And, surprisingly they happened more or less in the nine months before I slid down the Milky Way and into the blue.
In keeping with all things related to radio I thought it might be fun to put together a retrospective video of short-wave QSLs and radios from that year. The portable transistor radio made its debut that year, even though valve radios, among them being the Zenith Trans-Oceanic, remained the mainstay. In fact, I owned an H-500 manufactured in 1953. Great radio! 
The transmitter is a low-power rig, sufficient to emit a signal over a 30 km radius. A handful of announcers spin mostly contemporary Western and Indonesian pop tunes.
