The wonderful world of listening to the radio
One of the highlights for me this year was the reception of Alcaravan Radio from Colombia on 5910 kHz. After many years I could finally add another Colombian QSL to my collection. An equally nice surprise was this Christmas card that I received from them yesterday. Thank you Rafael and a Feliz Navidad!
The eQSL from Radio Blackstone International on 6270 kHz is very appealing. One of the nicest in my collection now. Thank you Herman!
Radio Blackstone International is a Free Radio station that is irregularly in the air on short wave. Herman uses home made tube transmitters, or vintage army transmitters. For the transmission that I received on 6270 kHz a Telefunken T400 transmitter from 1958 was used.
Radio Blackstone International is located in the province of Drenthe, The Netherlands. I sent my report to radioblackstone@outlook.com. Herman is also operating as “Zeewolf” on mediumwave.
NDB MAK-360.5 Mackel is an en-route beacon for Brussel Airport. Koen Vanooteghem told me in his QSL for the Oostende NDBs OO, DD and ONO, that historically this beacon is maintained be Skeyes as well. So I sent him a report which was immediately confirmed.
I shared with Koen what I learned about the situation in The Netherlands with NDB NW for Maastricht Airport being the “last man standing” as some satellite navigation details had to be worked out with Belgium. Koen told me that as of January 1st, 2024 all Belgian Airports should have RNAV (satellite navigation) operational. EBAW (Antwerp) has been ready for a while, EBOS (Ostend) is ready since November this year. So the expectation is that Belgian NDBs will be taken off line by end 2024.
The radiobeacons DD, OO and ONO for Oostende Brugge Airport are maintained by Skeyes. Koen Vanooteghem of Skeyes, a HAM operator himself (ON6BVK) was so kind to confirm my reception report. Thanks to Arvid Husdal for the tip.
A few days after I received Atlantic 2000 International with their program via Channel 292 I got their e-QSL. Which is a good opportunity to wish all readers of this blog a nice week heading into the Christmas weekend.
There is only one NDB (nondirectional beacon) left in The Netherlands, and that is NW at Beek, or Maastricht/Aachen Airport. This airport is also “home” of Dutch Air Traffic Control (LVNL), so I sent them an email (info@lvnl.nl) to ask what makes NW so special. I got a friendly reply (thank you!):
LVNL has phased out all NDBs and Locators in recent years, with the exception of the NW beacon. The reason for this is that we now use satellite navigation and these beacons are no longer needed. The navigation procedures have been adjusted accordingly. This was possible in most of the airspace above the Netherlands. Only part of the airspace and route structure in the south of the Netherlands is currently too complex to use satellite navigation. As a result, more time is needed to safely introduce the satellite navigation-based procedures in the border area with Belgium. It is expected that this will be possible sometime in the coming years. After that we can also phase out the NW beacon.
Belgium still has 11 active NDBs, with SLV-386.5 in Spa and ONL-290 in Liège close to Maastricht.
I received a nice QSL letter for my reception of Golden Oldies Radio on 5835 kHz. I sent my report to contact@goldenoldiesradio.nl
From the QSL letter: Every sunday morning -in winter time- Golden Oldies Radio is live on air @ 5835 AM from 8.00 till 14.00 CET by Dutch Relay Service, and 24/7 @ internet-radio: www.goldenoldiesradio.nl . Programs are presented in dutch language and mainly directed to the Netherlands and Belgium. Golden oldies Radio is in the spirit of former offshore radio station Mi Amigo!
Via Stian Tveit, QSL manager at Kystradio Sør, I got this informative QSL letter for my reception of Ørlandet Radio at 518 kHz, I sent my report to kystradio.sor@telenor.no, but you can also send your reports directly to stian.tveit@telenor.no. Mind you, Kystradio Sør is only responsible for stations below 65N. The more northern stations are responsibility of Kystradio Nord.
Orlandet Radio, callsign LFO is one of three stations that broadcast NAVTEX information on 490 and 518 kHz. The others are Jeloya and Rogaland Radio, all controlled from Kystradio Sør.
UPDATE: what is known as Jeloya (letter M) is actually located in Tjome/Horten and should be referred to as Tjome Radio. Rogaland (L) and Orlandet (N) are still – albeit remotely operated – separate transmitter sites. See also comments below. (Thanks to Stian Tveit from Telenor).
Thanks to a tip from René van Hoof I was able to receive Amica Radio Veneta in the late afternoon. A day later I received this nice QSL letter from Amica RAdio Veneta 1017 kHz. They are broadcasting from Peraga di Vigonza, near Padua, Italy. I sent my report to amicaradioveneta@yahoo.com .
I made little YouTube clip with a clear station ID. They were broadcasting nice Italian music.
According to MW List Quick and Easy Amica Radio Veneta is on air until 1800 UTC only. They are broadcasting with 1 kW, which is on the treshold of being an LPAM (Low Power AM station). That said, at 17 hrs UTC they dominated the RNE station from Burgos with 10 kW on the same frequency.
Today I received another email from BHANSA, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Air Navigation Services Agency. This one confirmed all three radio beacons I sent a report for to info@bhansa.gov.ba . So this adds a QSL for NDB DNC-425 Mostar to my collection. A big thank you to Mr. Vlado Juric for this confirmation.
Apparently Mostar Airport is struggling a bit compared to Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Tuzla Airports. In 2012 it was still the 2nd airport after Sarajevo, mainly because of pilgrimage to Medjugorje. Over a million people per year visited this town where Our Lady of Medjugorje appeared to six teens in 1981. I really recommend reading this Wiki about the complexity of religion in an already complex political environment.
During COVID Mostar Ariport lost the two companies carrying out scheduled flights from Mostar Airport, so it is used by seasonal charters only these days. You can find the other QSLs and stories about Bosnia by clicking on these links: BLK-340 and TU-445 .
© 2024 Peter's DX Corner
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑