A QSL for NDB AV on 414 kHz, located 8 km from Asturias Airport near Aviles, in line with the only runway. Aviles is a small harbour town situated on the north coast of Spain in the Asturias region.
On the data sheet that Enaire sent with the confirmation it looks like one of the antenna towers is crooked. Not sure what to think of it, I don’t see it on the Googlemaps Streetview pic:
Asturias Airport sees close to 2 mln passengers a year, with domestic flights but also quite a few scheduled international flights to other European countries.
My reception, as always, was confirmed by informacion@enaire.es .
The QSL for NDB VTA on 345 kHz for Vitoria Airport in Spain revealed that it has a different antenna set-up from other Enaire beacons. In the info sheet I got as a QSL it shows what they call a “Sistema radiante de tipo margarita” (which refers to the daisy flower not the cocktail 😉) as opposed to most Enaire beacons that have a dipole: “Sistema radiante de tipo T”.
Vitoria-Gasteiz airport seems a modest airport in terms of passenger traffic with only a few Ryanair destinations abroad. But it is the 4th cargo airport in Spain.
NDB VTA Vitoria on Googlemaps Streetview
My report was again confirmed by the folks of ENAIRE via informacion@enaire.es. A big thank you for providing me with all these details!
NDB EBT on 362 kHz supports the navigation of the army heliport Valencia/Bétera in Spain. The heliport is part of the Jaime I military base.
Bétera It is the home base of the Batallón de Helicópteros de Emergencia núm. II (BHELEME II), whose Super Puma and Cougar rescue helicopters (HU-21 and HU-27, respectively) are stationed here.
The Base Militar “Jaime I” near Valencia
My reception report was confirmed by Enaire (informacion@enaire.es). Without their usual data sheet as the beacon is operated by the Spanish Military.
On Googlemaps Streetview the T-antenna of the NDB EBT is visible just outside the heliport Bétera
NDB JER on 433 kHz is another beacon with the typical T-antenna set-up in use by Enaire. As usual for my reception report to informacion@enaire.es I got a nice confirmation email with data sheet:
The beacon is located 10 kilometers NNE of Jerez Airport, aligned with the runway of Aeropuerto de Jerez. It is pretty well visible on Googlemaps. The entrance is fenced off with multiple warnings that cell phones are prohibited. Not sure if this makes sense for an NDB, but it looks like there is other communication infrastructure present at the location as well:
Fence at the NDB JER premises, lots of “no cell phone” messages
The two antenna towers and dipole of NDB JER (Googlemaps Streetview)
The history of Aeropuerto de Jerez goes back to 1936. At the beginning of the Spanish Civil War an airport was needed in the south of Spain for the transfer of rebel troops to and from North Africa. It was decided to build a provisional airport south of Jerez de la Frontera on a provisional basis. But already during the civil war, in 1937, it was decided to build a new permanent airport on the current location.
The people of Jerez de la Frontera bought Jerez de la Frontera Airport ( Cádiz ) for almost one and a half million pesetas, opening in 1946 to civil air traffic, national passengers and freight. With tourism growing it is now an international airport, the 18th in size in Spain, the 3rd in size in Andalusia.
Radio Castilla-La Mancha is a Spanish public radio station belonging to the Radiotelevisión de Castilla–La Mancha group , a company dependent on the autonomous government of Castile-La Mancha . It belongs to the Federation of Radio and Television Organizations of the Autonomies , a professional association that brings together the main regional public radio and television channels in the country.
I heard them during the July 1st, opening. Jesus Sanchez was so kind to confirm my reception report. Apart from identifying the station with PI code I received a traffic message for Toledo, Spain:
UPDATE: A strong Radio Castilla La Mancha station ID. I heard this one on 105.9 MHz, which has only a 350 Watt relay listed in Riópar, Castilla La Mancha:
Radio Castilla La Mancha Network (courtesy:FMLIST)
On 92.0 MHz I heard COPE Madrid, Spain. Actually it was COPE Mas Madrid via a 2 kW relay transmitter in Villalbilla, 25 kms east of Madrid:
the Villalbilla / Monte El Viso relay station
According to FM list I heard a COPE Más Madrid broadcast, but I heard an annoucement of both COPE Madrid and COPE Más (with the frequencies 106.3 and 94.8 for the Madrid transmitters):
COPE Madrid is Madrid’s leading generalist channel, with a broad focus on news, sports, and current affairs, strongly oriented towards the local community and sports enthusiasts.
COPE Más is a supplementary channel that places more emphasis on entertainment, lifestyle and cultural topics, often with a local and accessible approach.
My reception report was confirmed by Mrs. Beatriz Perez Otin, journalist, producer and presenter at COPE. Thank you Beatriz!
Radio Marca Sevilla is a radio station based in Sevilla, Spain, part of the Radio Marca network. The station is dedicated entirely to sports as witnessed by their slogan “El Deporte es Nuestro” (The Sport is Ours), which I clearly heard during my reception of the station:
The Radio Marca network started in 2001 with the newspaper Marca as its craddle. My reception report was confirmed in two emails from the technical department by mr. Pablo Arellono Mauleon and mr. Manuel Martinez Bravo. Thank you so much!
email QSL for Radio Marca Sevilla
The picture below shows the Radio Marca network. Not really nation wide, but focussing on the bigger cities. The station in Sevilla on 94 MHz has a power of 1 kW.
During a nice opening towards Spain on July 1st one of the stations I picked up was COPE Andalucía. I did hear the regional COPE Andalucía ID, but not the more local Cordoba or Granada ID. And as the two 1 kW transmitters are only 100 kilometers apart it is difficult to say which location I received. Cordoba might be a bit more likely given the other stations I heard, but not by much.
QSL COPE Andalucia, 87.6 MHz
Manuel Marin from the technical department in Granada was so kind to confirm my report.
Mauricio Molana working at RNE Salamanca is a well known DX-er running his own weblog Mola-DX. So no surprise that he signed off on my eQSL for the reception of RNE 5 Salamanca on 1314 kHz. Nice to see the old school QSL layout! Thank you Mauricio!
A very nice eQSL from RNE Salamanca
RNE Salamanca is not a difficult catch at my location in the winter. But the problem is to catch their local program content. This is broadcast at 7.25-7.30, 8.45-9.00 and 13.55-14.00 h Spanish local time. In summer only the first slot is doable before the signal fades out (and at my QTH: solar panel noise kicks in). Following the local ID a brief weather bulletin is broadcast and after another ID you will typically hear some messages on local governmental themes.
Another nice catch during the June 18th SpE opening was Radio Andalucía Información on 91.6 MHz from Mijas, Spain. Mijas is an interesting spot as it hosts many transmitters and, more importantly, many stations that can be heard during SpE events. I sent my report to mnaharro@rtva.es . Manuel Garrido Fernández was so kind to confirm my report.
Radio Andalucía is part of RTVA (Radio TV Andalucia) which belongs to the Autonomous Government of Andalucía, so it is a public broadcaster. Another name for RTVA seems to be CanalSur, although maybe I’m missing some corporate legal details here. I didn’t know Andalucia (or Andalusia) was an autonomous region like Catalonia. So once again: what a nice hobby we have as you learn so much!
Radio Andalucía Información network (courtesy: FMLIST)
Given fact it is a regional public broadcaster there is quite a bit of focus on the region. That means local information, coverage of the various festivals and sports includes bullfights typical for the region. And of course there is flamenco music as you can hear on the clip I recorded:
BDXC : SWL 2262 PRe VERON : NL 14228 If you want to get in touch, just leave a message on one of my posts. Please note that I don't publish email addresses of verifiers which are not part of the public domain. So if you don't see the QSL address, just leave a message and I'll get back to you.
Feel free to copy anything on this weblog. I try to provide accurate information, but if I'm wrong: don't blame me! A link back to my site is appreciated when you copy info.
