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The shortwave stations usually want to check how their signals are being tuned
in the target areas. Despite this, they ask for the listeners sending reports
about the quality of the reception. The information on the reports is used by
broadcasters to verify if the frequencies used are appropriate, if there is
interference, if the reception is being satisfactory, etc.
A reception report should include some technical data of the transmission
(typically date, time, frequency) and sufficient details about the programs
listened in order to prove that the listener really had listened to the station.
Usually, the shortwave broadcasters verify the reception reports by sending a
QSL card to the listener.
It follows some basic hints to write reception reports sent
to international broadcasting stations, with the main items
that these sort of reports must contain:
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Date:
the date in which the transmission had occurred, written fully;
it is suggested to avoid the shorthand notation since that can
have different meanings depending on the country.
For example, let be a date expressed in the shorthand notation:
03/06/2002.
In certain countries from Europe and South America this date means
June 3 2002, while in North America means March 6 2002.
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Time:
because the audience of the international broadcasters can be distributed
all over the world, it requires a common time reference. It is very used the
Universal Coordinated Time, or UTC
(Universel Temps Coordoné, in French), adopted
by ITU (International Telecommunication Union) in 1979.
The term Greenwhich Mean Time, or GMT, is still being announced
by a few stations, but no conversion between UTC and GMT is
necessary as both terms are interchangeable in practice.
Consult a
time conversion chart,
if there is doubt in the conversion between local time and UTC time.
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Frequency or Band:
the frequency in which the station was listened,
pointed on the dial (or indicated in the display, for digital receivers),
and expressed in kilohertz (kHz). If the frequency is referred in the report,
it is not necessary to indicate the band. In particular cases, when the
dial is calibrated in wave length instead in frequency, or when the
frequency cannot be identified clearly, the band is then referred.
The conversion between wave length and frequency is simple (see the
conversion chart kHz to metres for details).
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Receiver:
the receiver being used during the listening. Usually, it must be indicated only
the brand name and model (for example: Sony ICF-SW7600GR).
However, the receiver may not be known in the country to which the report will
be sent, so that it is needed to indicate additional information about the
receiver: if the receiver has only shortwave bands or also has medium wave
and/or frequency modulation, if the receiver is portable or commmunications
type, how many shortwave bands exist, etc.
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Antenna:
the antenna used with the receiver. The portable sets have a built-in
telescopic antenna; however, if it is used any sort of external antenna, your
type must be mentioned: inverted L, dipole, long wire, etc.
If the listener use some sort of "exotic" antenna, as a wire attached
to the metallic structure of a window, a suitable description is needed.
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Reporting Code:
besides the technical data above, the transmission must be classified with
respect to the quality of reception, with the use of an evaluation
criterium expressed by means of an appropriated
code.
A example consists in the use of the SINPO-code,
widely used by international shortwave stations.
A simplified version of this code, adopted by some broadcasters,
is the SIO-code.
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Program Details:
it is certainly the most variable part of a reception report.
Here the listener indicates the most relevant details of the programation
listened, no only indicating the programme name. For example, if you listen to
a hypothetic program about telecommunications, you must indicate in the report,
besides the programme title, other details such as the presenter (if given) and
the most important points raised.
The quantity of details will depend basically on the understanding of the
transmission by the listener, because it can occur cases when there is severe
interference and/or noise damaging the signal quality, or when the language
being used is not understandable by the listener.
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Comments about the programation:
this is the most subjective criterium: the listener make his/her comments with
respect to the programation listened. The broadcasters are interested in the
listener's opinion about the programmes being presented (if the programme was
interesting, if a specified topic could be treated, if the duration is
adequate, etc) and a feedback of the listener is wishful.
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Observations:
anyone else information that the listener thinks important.
Besides the criteria above, the listener must indicate his/her name and address,
so that he/she can receive the reply to the report. The name and address must
be typed in a legible format, since that it can be easily understood by the
person in the station that will analyze the report.
Avoid the use of signatures, because they are often very difficult to decipher.
The reception reports are senr to the address used to contact the station,
generally informed during the programmation. Certain stations accept the
receipt of reports sent by e-mail; however, some of these stations also
will send the confirmation by e-mail. It isn't desirable if the listener
is interested in receive a real QSL card, not merely an electronic version.
Some these stations have their own web sites on the Internet, allowing that
the report can be sent by using an on-line form.
Click here
if you wish to obtain a list to the forms in the web sites of some stations.
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