Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Radio Free Asia Begins New QSL Card Series


May 2009
Radio Free Asia (RFA) announces a new QSL series celebrating musical instruments of Asia. The first card in the series shows a two stringed dutar. The dutar is a traditional musical instrument which is plucked by Uyghurs and either strummed or plucked by peoples of other nations. The dutar is considered one of the most common and popular instruments of the Turkmen people.
The dutar pictured on this QSL belongs to one of RFA’s Uyghur broadcasters and continually provides much joy and entertainment. The dutar is a pear-shaped lute characterized by its long neck and two strings; some versions have 4-strings. The dutar is primarily found in Central and South Asia. The dutar’s name comes from the Persian word for "two strings." At the hands of 15th century shepherds, the strings were made from gut but with the coming of the Silk Road, the strings were then made from twisted silk. Today, dutars use silk or nylon strings. This card will be used to confirm all valid reception reports from May 1 – June 30, 2009.

Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation that broadcasts news and information to listeners in Asian countries where full, accurate, and timly news reports are unavailable. Created by Congress in 1994 and incorporated in 1996, RFA currently broadcasts in Burmese, Cantonese, Khmer, Korean to North Korea, Lao, Mandarin, the Wu dialect, Vietnamese,
Tibetan (Uke, Amdo, and Kham), and Uyghur.


RFA strives for accuracy, balance, and fairness in its editorial content. As mentioned on the front of the QSL card, as a ‘surrogate’ broadcaster RFA provides news and commentary specific to each of its target countries, acting as the free press these countries lack. RFA broadcasts only in local languages and dialects, and most of its broadcasts comprise news of specific local interest. More information about Radio Free Asia, including our current broadcast frequency schedule, is available at www.rfa.org. RFA encourages listeners to submit reception reports. Reception reports are valuable to RFA as they help us evaluate the signal strength and quality of our transmissions. RFA confirms all accurate reception reports by mailing a QSL card to the listener.
RFA welcomes all reception report submissions at www.techweb.rfa.org (follow the QSL REPORTS link) not only from DX’ers, but also from its general listening audience. Reception reports are also accepted by emails to qsl@rfa.org, and for anyone without Internet access, reception reports can be mailed to:

Reception Reports Radio Free Asia

2025 M. Street NW, Suite 300
Washington DC 20036
United States of America

Upon request, RFA will also send a copy of the current broadcast schedule and a station sticker.
(Al Janitschek/RFA)