NDR - Gruss an Bord: December 24, 2019

Two live, off-air, two-hour recordings of the special annual Gruss an Bord broadcast from German broadcaster NDR, Norddeutscher Rundfunk, on 24 December 2019 beginning at 19:00 UTC. The broadcast features Christmas music and greetings for mariners around the world and a church service. The Christmas greetings were recorded at two events on the second Advent Sunday (8 December) in Leer and on the third Advent Sunday (15 December) in Hamburg.

Relatives and friends had the opportunity to wish their loved ones at sea a happy holiday and a happy new year. The Leer event featured the Bingumer Shanty Choir and Anne-Fleur Schoch and her band while the Hamburg event also featured Anne-Fleur Schoch and her band. At about 21:00, there was a church service from St. Maria Magdelena Catholic Church in Bochum-Wattenscheid. The broadcast was primarily in German with some greetings in English, Filipino, and Indian languages as well as German. Several songs in English, too. A news bulletin (in progress when recording began) preceded the first program segment for a few minutes.

In addition to being carried on the NDR Info and NDR Info Spezial networks, the broadcast was transmitted around the world on shortwave using transmitters in Nauen (NAU), Germany; Moosbrunn (MOS), Austria; Issoudun (ISS), France; and Gavar (ERV), Armenia; and was organized by Media Broadcast.

The schedule for 1900-2100 UTC was:
6030 kHz ERV 100 kW / 305 deg to West/Central Europe
6080 kHz NAU 125 kW / 250 deg to Northern Atlantic
9570 kHz MOS 100 kW / 115 deg to Indian Ocean East
9740 kHz NAU 125 kW / 130 deg to Indian Ocean West
9800 kHz ISS 250 kW / 148 deg to Waters near South Africa
11650 kHz ISS 250 kW / 195 deg to Southern Atlantic
and for 2100-2300 UTC:
6145 kHz NAU 125 kW / 250 deg to Northern Atlantic
6155 kHz ERV 100 kW / 305 deg to West/Central Europe
9590 kHz ISS 250 kW / 148 deg to Waters near South Africa
9675 kHz MOS 100 kW / 115 deg to Indian Ocean Eastbound
9740 kHz NAU 125 kW / 130 deg to Indian Ocean West
9830 kHz ISS 250 kW / 195 deg to Southern Atlantic

The first recording is of the transmission on the frequency of 6080 kHz between about 19:00 and 21:00 UTC. The second recording is of the transmission between about 21:00 and 23:00 UTC on the frequency of 6145 kHz. Near the beginning of the second recording, some other frequencies were tried to confirm the best one.

The transmissions were received outdoors on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada, in AM mode with 2.3 kHz RF filtering. Reception was quite good for both two-hour segments although the second one got slightly noisy as time progressed.