Category: NDB (Page 5 of 10)

QSL NDB OL-320 Lycksele

October 8, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 1 Comment

Chris from Aviseq, who also QSL-ed my reception of the beacons WU and VNA for Umea Airport, was so kind to confirm my reception of the beacon OL for Lycksele, Sweden on 320 kHz by email as well.

Lycksele Airport is located in South Lapland, a sparsely populated area in the north of Sweden. The distance to my QTH is 1590 km. Amapola operates daily flights to Stockholm from Lycksele Airport.

To give you an impression what it means to dig such a signal out of the noise with Pskov software I added the above picture. In the yellow/black panel you see how OL is received… Every line from left to right is a capture of the cyclic signal. As you can see the first minutes/cycles offered a better signal… The aggregate is a clear OL identification in morse code.

QSL NDB TW, MUT, TOE Toulouse Blagnac Airport

October 4, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 1 Comment

I received a couple of beacons from the Toulouse area in France. NDBs TW, MUT, TOE and TLF were received in such a good quality that I thought I could share them and ask for a QSL. I sent my report to the responsible person* at Toulouse Blagnac Airport Mr. Jean-Marc Caner.

Jean-Marc confirmed my reception of the beacons TW, MUT and TOE. But TLF is the responsibility of the smaller Francazal Airport in Toulouse which hasn’t replied to my QSL request yet.

There are two other NBDs I received, TLB and TS, which seem to belong to Blagnac Airport as well. So I will give them a try for another QSL. CVU clearly belongs to the local airport of Castres-Mazamet.

Toulouse Blagnac is the 5th largest airport in France. It is also hosts the head office of aircraft manufacturer Airbus, and test flights are conducted from this airport.

* The email address of Mr. J.M. Caner is not public, I can share it on request. Just drop a comment.

The NDB on the Bouri DP4 platform

October 3, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 3 Comments

The Bouri Oil & Gas field north of the Lybian Coast is considered to be the largest oil producing field in the Mediterranean Sea. And ENI Oil platform DP4 is the biggest platform in the Mediterranean. I was pleased to receive the NDB on this platform, with DP4 as identifier, last weekend.

Having worked in the refining and petrochemical industry for over 30 years, reception of a navigational beacon like this is special. Which also holds for the distance: 1915 kilometers, and the fact their signal was exceptionally strong (see below). I sent an email to ENI hoping they will confirm…

QSL NDB VNA-364 Vanja

September 23, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

A QSL from NDB VNA-364 Vanja, a navigation aid for Umea Airport in Sweden.

Earlier I received a e-QSL for my reception of the other NDB for Umea Airport WU-329. The engineering team that reached out to me promised to send a QSL card by mail for the other beacon VNA-364 once they had completed their maintenance visit and were able to take a few pictures. Last week I received it!

It is always nice to get a picture of an NDB. Sometimes I’m able to trace them on Streetview in Google Maps. But as Christoffer from the Engineering team explained: no chance for VNA which is pretty much off the beaten track. The picture below shows the access path to the beacon.

The transmitter is SA-100D transmitter with 100 Watt. Christoffer told me it’s the same as WU uses and the stations are near identical in terms of looks.

NDB VNA Vanja transmitter building and antenna

QSL NDB NMS-329 Namsos

September 16, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 3 Comments

QSL for NDB NMS-329, a navigation aid for Namsos Airport. This regional airport is located in central Norway, situated along the river Namsen, which flows into the Namsenfjord.
Namsos Airport has one of the smallest runways for airports with regular flights. They are operated by Widerøe with destinations Trondheim, Oslo and Rørvik, as part of a public service obligation. As Trondheim is only 165 kilometers away, and roads between Namsos and Trondheim are upgraded, many people travel by car to Trondheim to take a flight from there.

The beacon is one of those that I receive quite regularly in the Netherlands. Thanks to Goran Hardenmark for helping me out with the contact address at Avinor for the QSL!

Email to QSL NDB NMS for Namsos Airport on 329 kHz

QSL NDB WU-329 Umea

September 12, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 1 Comment

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote a post on my reception of two beacons for Umea Airport: WU-329 and VNA-364. At the time I received a polite “thank you email” from Swedavia, the operator of Umea Airport. But hardly a QSL.

Two weeks ago I was contacted by engineers working at AVISEQ, the company responsible for the maintenance of the navigation aids and ATC communication/systems in Sweden. They had read my post and prepared the above eQSL for NDB WU-329 me and there should be a QSL for VNA-364 on its way. Of the latter beacon I also received some nice pictures, as the team was doing some maintenance on VNA. I will post them together with the QSL.

Stay tuned for more!

QSL NDB TAZ-345 Tivat

April 25, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

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!

QSL NDB LAR-382 and EVR-425 Portugal

March 23, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

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.

QSL NDB MIA-292 Melilla

March 17, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

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.

QSL NDB PX-389 Perigueux-Bassillac

March 8, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

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.