The wonderful world of listening to the radio
The control tower boasts “International” but Kunovice Airport is not a public airport. Instead it is home to three aircraft manufacturers: Czech Sport Aircraft, Evektor-Aerotechnik and Let Kunovice. (source: Wikipedia).
There are two NDBs for this airport: KUN on 416 kHz and KNE on 434 kHz. Mr. Najman from ANS Czech Republic was so kind to confirm my reception. He also included the photos of the beacons:
Between October and December 2023 I received 11 NDBs from the Czech Republic. I received a QSL for 4 of them via ANS , but the other 7 were the responsibility of the Czech military, for which I didn’t have an email address.
A big thanks to Patrick Robic who made me aware that NARFA CZE confirmed his reports in the past. I sent my report to narfa@army.cz . And indeed, 1st Lieutenant Lucie Mertová was so kind to QSL my reception of the following NDBs:
CF-345.5 and C-715 for Caslav Airbase
PK-432 and P-888 for Pardubice Airport (shared mil/civil)
K-438 for Praha-Kbely Airbase
LA-514.5 and XU-563 for Namest nad Oslavou Airbase.
NARFA is the National Frequency Agency of the Czech Republic. They are part of the Czech Army. A good overview of their activities can be found on the NARFA website.
In the last three months of last year I received 11 beacons from the Czech Republic. My report to ANS remained unanswered. Arvid Husdal was so kind to provide me with the email address of Miroslav Najman, OK1DUB, who works at ANS as Radiocommunications Systems Adminstrator.
Within a day Mr. Najman sent me an email. 7 of the 11 beacons in my report were military and outside ANS responsibility (see below). But he could confirm my reception of 4 of them:
NDB L, Karlovy Vary, 365 kHz
NDB L, Prague, 372 kHz
NDB B, Brno, 429 kHz,
NDB R, Ostrava, 534 kHz
The beacons are Thales NDB 436, operating on 50 Watts power. In addition to the technical info I received 4 nice pictures of the transmitter containers and antennas.
The following beacons are owned by the military:
CF-345.5 and C-715 for Caslav Airbase
PK-432 and P-888 for Pardubice Airport (shared mil/civil)
K-438 for Praha-Kbely Airbase
LA-514.5 and XU-563 for Namest nad Oslavou Airbase
On May 18th, Radio Dechovka brought a special program to commemorate the fact that regular radio broadcasts started 100 years ago in Czechoslovakia. They used the Prague Zbraslav transmitter on 1233 kHz. A special QSL was issued Radio Dechovka to confirm reception reports for this event.
The Prague Zbraslav transmitter on 1233 kHz is normally not in use by Radio Dechovka as they can’t afford the bill. Their normal programming can be heard on 792 and 1260 kHz. Some sources report that 1233 khz might be taken off the air forever later this year.
The nice thing about the Radio Dechovka QSL is that it came by regular mail. A real old fashioned QSL, plus stickers, my report stamped in a beautiful priority mail envelope!
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