In year 1970 Hans Sundgren is 13 years old and starts practicing DX-ing; listening to radio broadcasts on the short-wave and medium-wave band. In year 1973 he stops DX-ing.
Then, in year 2022, now 65 years old, Hans starts practising DX-ing again.
Country overview
Countries from which Hans has got confirmed reception by QSL card.
Europe: 29 countries
Albania
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Czechoslovakia
Denmark
East Germany
Finland
France
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
USSR
Vatican City
West Berlin
West Germany
Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)
Africa: 7 countries
Egypt
Ghana
Liberia
Morocco
Nigeria
Rwanda
South Africa
Asia: 11 countries
China
Cyprus
India
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Japan
Kuwait
North Korea
Turkey
Vietnam
Pacific: 1 country
Australia
North America: 2 countries
Canada
USA
Central America: 2 countries
Cuba
Netherlands Leeward Antilles
South America: 1 country
Equador
International water – 1 pirate station
Radio Nordsee International
Total: 53 countries and 1 pirate station
QSL cards
Some of the QSL-cards Hans receives, in order of received cards.
Hans receives some certificates related to the DX-ing.
Polens Radios DX-lyssnarklubb
Member of Polens Radios DX-lyssnarklubb.
Radio Canada Shortwave club
Member of the "Radio-Canada Shortwave Club".
TFAE 25 countries
Certificate of 25 confirmed countries.
Issue by Teknik För Allas Eterklubb (TFAE).
RDXA:s rapporteringstävling
Participation in competition.
Pennants
Sometimes Hans receives pennants in addition to the QSL cards.
Radio receivers
Radio receivers Hans uses for DX-ing.
Hans' main radio receiver for DX-ing: AGA Baltic, with home-built accessories on the top. The lower cabinet holds a tape recorder built by Hans' father Sture.
1970: AGA Baltic
During the period 1970–1973 Hans uses two receivers for DX-ing. The main receiver is the AGA Baltic located at Getingstigen, Linköping.
The receiver is bought around 1954 by Hans' father Sture Sundgren. It is bought from a radio dealer dealer in Linköping, is slightly used, and is partly paid by exchange of Sture's wife Agda's receiver. This new receiver has all shortwave-band with bandspread.
The receiver is connected to a 3 meter vertical antenna on the roof of the house. This antenna is manufactured by Sture Sundgren, using an aluminium tube, acquired from Saab's scrap bin. At the top there is a horisontal 10 cm spiral.
The radio receiver in the north-east corner of the upper floor living room, at Getingstigen 48 in Linköping.The scale with radio stations marked on the long-wave, medium-wave and short-wave bands.The radio has scales in meter and a supplementary scale in "degrees". Since all radio stations are specified by frequency, Hans needs to make a conversion from frequency to wavelength. Therefore, he creates this conversion sheet.
IC-705 transceiver.
2022: Icom IC-705
In April 2022 buys a new receiver to be used for DX-ing. After checking for alternatives, he decides to select the Icom IC-705. It is a fairly new amateur radio transceiver that can also be used for listening to AM broadcast stations.
So, in addition of being used as a DX radio receiver, Hans can use the unit for amateur radio transmission.
Some of the many features that Hans likes:
Small portable unit, powered by internal batteries or external 12 V.
Wide frequency range for reception: 0.030-470.000 MHz
Modes include: AM, FM, SSB, CW, and FT8 via USB
Has a 4.3" color touchscreen display
Has wireless LAN, Bluetooth and GPS
Sound recording on SD-card
Items 1970–1973
Some items from Hans' first period of DX-ing.
First reception
Hans makes a note the first reception in an album:
"I started DX-ing March 21, on my fathers old receiver. Deutschlandfunk become the first station, then Radio Moscow, Warsawa, HCJB..."
Actually, the first radio station Hans listens to, and sends in listening report to, is Radio Moscow March 16th. But Deutschlandfunk is the first QSL card he receives.
Front and back of log card no. 1, xxx×xx mm
Log cards
During Hans' first DX-ing period 1970-1973, he keeps track of all his radio listening through a pile of cardboard cards with data.
He writes the cards using a mechanical typewriter.
The log card front page specifies:
Continent and country
Radio station name, location, transmitting power and frequency
Date of reception, receiver and location
Received QSL-card and other items, after how many days after sending reception report.
The log card back page specifies additional received QSL cards from the same station:
Date and frequency.
Any other receiver than the AGA, for example DUX, and location.
Other items received besides QSL, for example; pennant.
In order to plan the radio receptions, Hans reads the magazines Eter Aktuellt and DX-radio och writes down prospective stations in a binder.
Pages specifying stations of interest at 20:00 and 21:00.
QSL cards from Radio Poland and other stations.
Disposal of pennants and QSL cards
In year 1974 and 1976 Hans dumps all pennants together with all duplicate QSL cards he received from the same station.
But before he dumps the items he takes a photo of the them using his Agfa Pocket camera. The film is a positive 110 film where each frame is 13×17 mm. Therefore the resolution is bad.
QSL cards from Radio Tashkent and other stations.QSL cards from various stations. Some of the cards are kept for the future.Pennants from various stations.
