The Shortwave Christmas Broadcast Every Listener Should Know

If you like chasing seasonal broadcasts on HF, there is one Christmas Eve program that really belongs on your must-hear list. "Gruß an Bord" (German for "Greetings on Board") is Norddeutscher Rundfunk's long-running holiday show that links families at home with crews at sea over shortwave. It mixes live music, ship check-ins, and emotional messages from loved ones, and it still goes out worldwide on classic HF broadcast bands. Whether you're a die-hard DXer or you just fire up your shortwave receiver once a year, this is a broadcast worth planning around.

"Gruß an Bord" isn't just another seasonal music show. It started as a way to reach commercial and naval crews who were spending Christmas far from home, often with very limited contact options. Shortwave gave them a real-time, shared experience that connected the ship mess room with living rooms back in Germany. Even today, with satellite links and cheap data, the program still goes out over HF so both seafarers and hobby listeners can hear the same signal riding the ionosphere.

For shortwave fans, the show has turned into a yearly ritual. You line up the schedule, pick a target frequency or two, and see how well your station can follow NDR's signal as it hops between Europe, the Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. If you're into SDRs, this is the kind of event that rewards a bit of planning. If you're just getting started with HF listening, it is a perfect excuse to dust off a portable and learn how to watch propagation in action. If you need a refresher, the SDR section is a good place to start.

What is "Gruß an Bord"?

"Gruß an Bord" is produced by NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk), a public broadcaster based in northern Germany with deep ties to the maritime world. The program is built around personal greetings sent in by families, friends, and partners of seafarers and offshore crews. These messages are read on air between live or recorded music segments, often with studio guests and reports from ports and ships. Even if you don't speak German, the tone is clear: this is about keeping people connected when distance and ocean are in the way.

When and where to listen on shortwave

NDR schedules "Gruß an Bord" on multiple shortwave beams to cover Europe, the Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean during the 18:00–21:00 UTC window on December 24. That puts it in the evening for Europe, afternoon in the Americas, and late night or early morning across parts of the Indian Ocean region. You don't have to hit every frequency; just pick the one that best fits your location and band conditions, then scan around if reception fades.

• Step 1: Mark December 24 from 18:00 to 21:00 UTC in your logbook or calendar so you don't miss the window.
• Step 2: Choose the shortwave frequency that best matches your region, or have two or three ready as backups.
• Step 3: Warm up your receiver 10–15 minutes early, check noise levels, and be ready to fine-tune as the broadcast starts.

Here are the published shortwave frequencies for the Christmas Eve broadcast window on December 24, 18:00–21:00 UTC:

Target region	Frequency (kHz)	Notes
Europe	6080	Good choice for most of central and western Europe during the evening hours.
Atlantic - Northwest	15770	Higher band option that can work well toward the northwest Atlantic and eastern North America.
Atlantic - South	13830	Aimed at the southern Atlantic, including shipping lanes off South America and Africa.
Atlantic - Northeast	6030	Lower band path for the northeast Atlantic and nearby maritime areas.
Indian Ocean	9635	Useful if you're listening from the Indian Ocean region, East Africa, or parts of Asia.
Atlantic / Indian Ocean / South Africa	11650	Bridging beam to reach ships and listeners from South Africa across to mid-ocean routes.

Shortwave versus online streams

NDR typically makes "Gruß an Bord" available via FM and online streams, which is great for family members at home. But for a lot of us, the magic is in hearing it over HF. Shortwave means the same signal bouncing through the ionosphere is landing on ship receivers and home shacks alike. There's fading, some noise, maybe a bit of interference, and yet it still gets through. If you want the story behind what you’re hearing, you can always pull up NDR’s site or a translation app on your phone, but the RF part is what gives this tradition its character.

What you can expect to hear

On a typical "Gruß an Bord" broadcast, you’ll hear studio hosts introducing messages that have been sent in over the weeks leading up to Christmas. Families name the ship, the crew member, and sometimes the last port of call. Those greetings are broken up with music, usually a mix of Christmas standards and songs with a nautical or northern German flavor. There may also be live checks with ships at sea or with organizations that support seafarers, which can be interesting even if you only catch part of the German.

From a radio perspective, it's a relaxed but engaging signal to follow. You'll notice fades on the higher frequencies like 15770 kHz, while the lower channels such as 6030 kHz and 6080 kHz can get noisier as night moves in. If you're feeding audio into a computer, it's a nice candidate for recording the full three-hour window and reviewing later. A panadapter on an SDR makes it easy to see all of the active beams at once so you can hop to the cleanest channel as conditions shift.

Practical listening tips for "Gruß an Bord"

You don't need a big contest station to enjoy this broadcast, but a bit of prep goes a long way. A small portable with a clip-on wire antenna can do the job, especially if you can get away from indoor noise sources. If you’re using an SDR, take a minute to build a memory bank with each of the key frequencies so you can jump quickly as you test paths into Europe, the Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. And if you’re brand new to HF, the Getting Started section has plenty of ideas for simple antennas and noise reduction.

1. Check local time versus UTC so you’re actually listening between 18:00 and 21:00 UTC on December 24.
2. Start on the frequency aimed closest to your part of the world, then compare signal levels on the others every 10–15 minutes.
3. Log what you hear: signal strength, fading, noise, and any ship or port names you can catch from the German greetings.