2001

2001 was the first year without of Joop ter Zee’s contribution. January started with a USA test.

Successful USA test

January 21^st 2001, another USA test was conducted, this time from 06.30- 07.30 UTC on 6289 kHz. Propagation was very good and FRS-Holland was received in fair quality on the US east coast but also in Nashville, Tennessee!
As from February onwards FRS introduced an E-(lectronic) News Letter. The E-News would be forwarded on an irregular basis. Edition #1 was sent on Monday February 5th. The E-News was in fact a ‘digital copy’ of the ‘FRS News’ publication, an irregular free newssheet containing the latest FRS-Holland news.
That same month FRS reorganized its e-mail addresses: frsh@club.tip.nl, frsh@go.to or peter.verbruggen@tip.nl. Website: http://frsh.club.tip.nl or http:// go.to/frsh . Perhaps more important: as from February 1st FRS-Hollandhad a new adddress: P.O.Box 2702, 6049 ZG Herten in the Netherlands.

first regular broadcast; a ‘new’ voice

Sunday March 11th FRS-Holland took to the air with a 3¼ hour broadcast introducing a new voice, namely that of Steven Reath. It was good news knowing that the FRS team was being expanded again. After the passing of Joop ter Zee, there were only two presenters. That had never happened before. Fresh blood was warmly welcomed. For many listeners it seemed to be a familiar voice and they were right: Steven Reath happened to be the aka for EMR founder and former FRS presenter Barry Stephens. Barry aka Steven happened to play a major role in FRS’ start back in 1980 and was part of the very first presenting team. From now on he would be hosting the FRS Golden Show (English Service). An interesting item in his show was a Free Radio Spot featuring land based radio stations from years gone by. The March broadcast also featured a 45 min. DX-Show plus Mark Jones’ ‘Off Beat’ in German and not to forget Peter Verbruggen’s FRS Magazine… A new programme item was introduced: the Phrase that Pays. Listeners hearing their name mentioned on air could win nice prizes. March 18^th and 25^th saw two successive USA tests, this time within the 31 mb. A brief 30 minute show was recorded which was repeated several times between 05.30- 07.30 UTC on 9295 kHz. A week later FRS tested on 9297 with a 60 minute show between 04.30- 06.30 UTC.  For both tests reports from the USA were received. In the following 6 months only one activity was noted: June 30^th a brief nightly 19 mb test on 15070 kHz produced one letter from Venezuela, South America.

24 hour marathon broadcast

September 23^rd saw a one hour broadcast on 7473 promoting the 24 hour marathon which was planned a week later on 7450 kHz. Saturday September 29th FRS started at 16.40 UTC. Already that same day numerous E-mails from all parts of Europe convinced us that the signal quality was good. During the broadcast the upcoming 21st anniversary was promoted. Sunday morning there was only a carrier on 7450. In the night of Saturday to Sunday something went wrong with the double cassette deck. At 08.00 UTC/10.00 CEST shows recommenced but modulation once again disappeared at 10.00 UTC. The problem could not be solved and for that reason the complete broadcast was repeated a week October 6th/ 7th. Listeners’ response was very good: we received a total of 100 letters and E-mails. In the weekend of October 6th/7th FRS carried out brief transmissions on various 48 mb frequencies putting out a loop tape with a message referring at the 41 mb activities that weekend.
Early October 2001 we were informed about the sudden death of Manfred Bredow, a very dedicated shortwave Free Radio DXer who wrote his first FRSH letter on December 14th 1980, 4 month after our start. It marked the start of a kind of friendship between Manfred and the FRS crew. The 75 letters we received in the 21 years of FRS broadcasts was the best prove for this strong tie. Manfred sadly died July 4th in the age of 41.

21st anniversary

The FRS 21st birthday programmes were intended to go out on  Sunday November 11th but in the end programmes would be aired one week later. November 18^th conditions were not what you would expect from a November month; there was an irritating high noise level. Programmes commenced at 09.22 CET and prior to that non-stop music interspersed by FRS interval IDs were played on 6201. Signal strength was satisfactory and at 11.00 CET the signal was badly affected by QRM. It was decided to slightly alter frequency to 6199. Both signal and modulation improved and everything looked fine but at 11.35 CET QRM returned increasing to an unacceptable level and yet another move to a higher part of the 48 mb was made. Just before a proposed move to 6286, colleague station Alfa Lima started on 6284! A telephone call was made and we agreed with the Alfa Lima person that he would clear 6284 at 12.10 CET. Thanks to him we could continue on 6286  doing the final part of the broadcast without any problems and close down was at 14.15 CET. Part of the programming was a Joop ter Zee tribute.

Repeat Anniversary, EMR & christmas

A partly repeat of the birthday shows went out on 7470 kHz a week later on the 25^th November between 08.20- 12.00 UTC. Initial power was no less than 500W, the final two hours were done with 250W. That same weekend on the 24th/25th November many listeners were surprised by a combined E.M.R./FRS broadcast on 7450 kHz. Several archive recordings from former London landbased pirates like Radio Jackie, London Music Radio, Skyline Radio, Radio Kaleidoscope and Radio Invicta were aired. Signal quality on 7450 was solid resulting in reception in the USA during night time.

Saturday 22^nd and Sunday 23^rd December saw the 19^th annual and traditional Christmas broadcast via UK based Radio Nova. Steven Reath, Mark Jones & Peter Verbruggen presented a total of 5 hours of music & information. The International Listeners’ Letter Show returned on the airwaves with all the November mail being handled . Programmes started during the Saturday afternoon and the 5 hour block was repeated numerous times. Early Sunday morning the modulation disappeared and programmes resumed at 09.35 UTC till close down the following Monday afternoon! Sunday December 23^rd FRS tested between 05.45- 08.00 UTC on 6275 kHz with own equipment. And with this test FRS concluded 2001.