Season's greetings from FRS Holland

 

Dear FRS Friend!

Christmas 2020 casts its shadow forward and we are approaching the end of 2020. An almost (?) surrealistic year. Perspectives for 2021 are hopeful but it will take time and patience before our hopes will be fulfilled, looking at the upcoming start of vaccination.

Special year
For us at FRS-Holland it was a special year too. 2020 marked our 200th official shortwave broadcast back in August and the icing on the cake was the celebration of our 40th Anniversary a few weeks ago. April saw a broadcast of hope right in the middle of the first Covid-19 wave. Last Summer we did an experiment with The FRS Summer Splash: three successive thematic broadcasts.

40th Anniversary broadcast
The November 8th on air 40th anniversary celebration exceeded our expectations. That day we were heard with good signals on - apart from 7700 & 5790 - also on 6195, 6160, 3920. A great success! I remember that Saturday I went to our P.O.Box 2702 mail drop ... it was crammed with letters...snail mail! Together with all e-mails we can only be happy and proud. The comprehensive preparations to make it an interesting, successful and memorable broadcast paid off!

CD, Booklet & QSL
It's my guess it won't surprise you that the months prior to November 8th were fully focused on preparing, organizing etc. There was no time for other 'business'. Nevertheless we felt it was the right moment for a souvenir CD ánd booklet. And: we had to work on creating/producing an unique anniversary QSL as well. It was not until a week after the anniversary broadcast that a start was made to produce the CD, booklet and QSL.

In the meantime the 'ingredients' for the CD have been finished. The main idea for the special QSL card has been worked out and even better: the QSL has already been printed. Those who send a reception report/letter to P.O.Box 2702 will not regret it: the 40th Anniversary QSL is (in my humble opinion) a success and looks splendid. It's a folded A4, printed on heavy quality paper in full colour. Wait and see!

For those who sent an e-mail report, regretting (after reading the above) they didn't go for a hard copy: you can still get your unique QSL by writing to P.O.Box 2702. We have printed a few extra ones but remember: this QSL is only issued for the 40th Anniversary broadcast!  Without exaggeration: the hard copy QSL is by far the best option! The CD & booklet will be finished in the next few days. Final conclusion: a bit of patience is required.

Traditional December broadcast
The FRS Seasonal December broadcast is scheduled for Sunday December 27th, the day after Boxing Day. It's a tradition we won't give up. So expect a nice mix of great music, items & information in a few weeks' time. More info will follow via mail and on our website.

73's, Peter Verbruggen on behalf of the FRS staff