QSLing National Holidays

Here is a neat little tip you may not have thought about when planning your listening schedule. All countries have national holidays, but have you considered listening to them on their special day or holiday? Listeners may find special programming or extended broadcast hours to honor that special day, holiday or event. Many listener's take advantage of this excellent opportunity by sending reception reports for the particular country on this special holiday.

Don't forget to mention in your station correspondence any special event or holiday you may have heard mentioned during the broadcast. The QSL Manager or other staff member will likely appreciate your interest in their country, and may send some extra memorabilia your way.

The pages that follow are my exclusive month-by-month listing of national holiday/independence days to assist you in monitoring various national celebrations. I have also added the country capital name and any variant spellings of the name as part of this listing. Entries marked with an asterisk (*) are national holidays. This list works very well, whether as a shortwave listener, AM/FM listener or an amateur radio operator.

(excerpt from QSLing the World by Gayle Van Horn. A Teak Publishing e-book available at Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083M2O4W/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

SLBC Sri Lanka QSL

February 2014 - National Holiday/Independence Day - Date / County and Capital

Sri Lanka Independence Day* (from UK) February 4 Colombo
New Zealand Waitangi Day* February 6 Wellington
Niue Waitangi Day* February 6 Alofi
Tokelau Waitangi Day* February 6 No official capital
Grenada Independence Day* (from UK) February 7 Saint George's
Iran Revolution Day* February 11 Tehran
Burma Union Day* February 12 Rangoon (Yangon)
Lithuania Independence Day* February 16 Vilnius
The Gambia Independence Day* February 18 Banjul
St. Lucia Independence Day* (from UK) February 22 Castries
Brunei National Day* February 23 Bandar Seri Begawan
Guyana Republic Day* February 23 Georgetown
Estonia Independence Day* February 24 Tallinn
Kuwait National Day* February 25 Kuwait
Dominican Republic Independence Day* (from Haiti) February 27 Santo Domingo
Egypt Independence (from UK)  February 28 Cairo