The wonderful world of listening to the radio
SMATSA stands for Serbia and Montenegro Air Traffic Safety Agency. Mr. Slavisa Savic, who is also a HAM operator with call sign YT5DX , was so kind to confirm my reception of radio beacon TAZ. This non directional beacon is in service for Tivat Airport in Montenegro. My 195th radio country confirmed!
I received a friendly email to QSL NDB LAR-382 and EVR-425 Portugal. Rosa Roque, head of maintenance at FIR Lisboa Airport, answered the email I sent to geral@nav.pt . The same address that verified my reception of NDB FIL on the Azores.
Dear Peter,
We confirm that these are the frequencies and the call sign of these radio beacons.
It’s amazing how, under exceptional propagation conditions, a frequency can be heard at such a great distance.
This is to confirm that Peter Reuderink has received radio beacons LAR on 382 kHz, and EVR on 425 kHz.
Many thanks. Best Regards.
Atenciosamente,
Rosa Roque
DOPLIS/MANLIS – Head of Maintenance Services
Lisbon FIR Operations Directorate
As far as I know their are 4 NDBs left in Portugal. Two of them can be received most evenings at my QTH,
LAR at Arruda (I guess the callsign is derived from Lisboa-ARruda) is situated north of Lisbon International Airport aligned with the runway.
EVR is situated at Évora Municipal Airport. The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer owns two plants adjacent to the airport.
A QSL for NDB MIA-292 in Melilla. As Melilla is a Spanish enclave on the North African coast it counts as a separate radio country, a new one for me. I chased for a week on this one. Made SDR recordings from sunset until sunrise of the 290-310 kHz band, in 1 hour segments. Next processed the recordings with Pskov.
This resulted in 3 loggings of MIA, of which one was clearly identifiable and thus reportable. Unfortunately I did not obtain an good copy of NDB CEU-300 from Ceuta, which is also high on my wish list.
I sent my report to informacion@enaire.es, and as with earlier reception reports the confirmation email contained a datasheet but also a high quality photo of the antenna.
I received an email as QSL NDB PX-389 Perigueux-Bassillac, France. A big thank you to Juan Antonio Arranz who provided me the email address for this beacon. Unfortunately the beacon will be switched off in May this year as the team wrote in their email:
It’s always surprising to know that our PX beacon can be received from so far away! Not long ago we received the same message from Spain.
Indeed, unfortunately the beacon will be out of service from May 2024. The associated procedure can no longer be used. In France, Civil Aviation is reducing costs, particularly when it concerns small airfields. The Périgueux aerodrome has no longer had a regular service since June 2018.
We are managed by a joint union and account for around 15,000 movements per year: leisure and business aviation, organ transport and medical evacuations, military training, etc.
Our team is made up of 4 people: 2 agents at the control tower and 2 airport firefighters.
QSL for NDB SAY-431 from Stornoway signed by Peadar Smith, Air Traffic Controller. Peadar answered my reception report by email first and offered me to sign a PPC as well. And since I thought of starting using PPCs again I gladly accepted his offer:
Stornoway is situated on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, United Kingdom. The airfield was opened in 1937, primarily for military purposes. Today it is owned by HIAL and mainly used for domestic services.
My QSL is the 5th from a HIAL airport (Islay, Wick, Benbecula and Kirkwall other the other NDBs I received a QSL for). I sent my initial report to info@hial.co.uk. But you could also send your report to directly to Peader at the address below. Mind you: Peader is an avid stamp collector, so trust he will be very happy if you could add some stamps with your report!
Peadar Smith
Air Traffic Controller
Port Adhair Steòrnabhagh
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited
Stornoway Airport, Isle of Lewis, HS2 OBN
United Kingdom
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
My 4th QSL from a HIAL airport! The other ones are Islay, Benbecula and Kirkwall. I sent my report of my reception of NDB WCK at 344 kHz, Wick, to info@hial.co.uk, and got a detailed letter plus a holiday brochure by regular mail from Neil Bramble, Senior Air Traffic Controller at Wick John O’Groats Airport.
Wick John O’Groats Airport is located in the northern tip of Scotland and hence the most northern airport of mainland United Kingdom. The only scheduled flights are by Eastern Airways to and from Aberdeen.
The Islay airport is one of 11 airports operated by HIAL (Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd.) in Scotland. I sent my reception report of NDB LAY-395 Islay to info@hial.co.uk . The QSL was by email from Laura at the Islay Admin desk.
Islay is the most southern island of the Inner-Hebrides. The island has close to 3500 residents and 9 (!) whisky distilleries. There is only one scheduled flight, twice a day, by Logan Air to and from Glasgow.
The third QSL I received for a beacon from the Canary Islands: NDB VT-365 on the island of Gran Canaria. The largest island, but not the beacon with the best signal overhere as you can see on the Pskov image on my PPC. I got my QSL via informacion@enaire.es
This QSL is for another of the three beacons I received from the Canary Islands: NDB BX-389 La Palma.
La Palma Airport is just one runway, but unlike tiny El Hierro it does offer flights to Europe.
© 2024 Peter's DX Corner
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
