Category: Sweden (Page 1 of 4)

QSL SAQ Grimeton 100th anniversary

July 25, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A QSL from SAQ Grimeton for my reception of their special 100th anniversary transmission on 17.2 kHz, July 2nd, 2025.

QSL to celebrate the 100 Year Anniversary Transmission of SAQ Grimeton

Reception quality was pretty good with an easy to decode CW signal: VVV VVV VVV DE SAQ SAQ SAQ:

SAQ Grimeton Radio Station is a historic longwave transatlantic wireless telegraphy station located near Varberg in southern Sweden. Built between 1922 and 1924, it is the only remaining station of its kind from the early 20th century and is renowned for its use of a unique Alexanderson alternator, a pre-electronic transmitter technology developed by Swedish-American engineer Ernst Alexanderson. The station, with the callsign SAQ, operates on a very low frequency (VLF) of 17.2 kHz and was primarily used to transmit Morse code telegrams to North America, particularly to Radio Central on Long Island, New York, from the 1920s through the 1940s. During World War II, it served as Sweden’s sole telecommunication link with the world and was later used for submarine communications until 1996.

Winter inspection of VNA-364 Vanja

February 23, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

I got a nice QSL for my reception of NDB VNA on 364 kHz, Vanja, for Umea airport some time ago: https://petersdxcorner.nl/sweden/qsl-ndb-vna-354-vanja/

Chris from Aviseq sent me some pictures when they had to do some inspection and maintenance work on the VNA beacon a few weeks ago. Quite a challenge in Swedish winter conditions:

QSL NDB OO-369 Örnsköldsvik

January 2, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

Another beacon from northern Sweden confirmed. A QSL for NDB OO-369 Örnsköldsvik. The other NDB for this airport is OD-322. Chris Landstrom from Aviseq was so kind to send a confirmation (together with NDB OL Luleå):

As for OO, it’s definitely our station but it baffles me how your reception was so much worse than previous NDB’s or even OL which is several hundred kilometers further away from you than OO is, I looked into weather history for these dates and saw nothing that should indicate a worse prerequisite in terms of climate and considering OO’s placement there shouldn’t be any difficult obstructions or similar making it much worse than OL. I’m not aware of any conflicting frequencies that could play a role but maybe you have an idea what could cause this? Our monitoring receivers are generally placed at nearby airports so any long-range discrepancies wouldn’t be picked up; but it would be fun to understand it better.

“I’m happy to confirm that Peter Reuderink has received the following stations:
NDB OO on 369 kHz on October 26th, 2024, 22:15 h UTC, and
NDB OL on 377 kHz, on October 27th, 2024, 23:15 h UTC”

I explained Chris that the quality of the reception depends on the propagation at the time I scan that specific part of the frequency band. And at the time conditions were not stellar due to solar activity. Moreover, OO shares a frequency (with similar offsets) with NL Goteborg-Landvetter and MNE Munich, which are more or less in the same antenna direction and definitely much stronger at my QTH.

It’s nice to have these sort of conversations with the engineers that maintain these beacons!

QSL NDB OL-377 Luleå

December 31, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Chris Landstrom from Aviseq Sweden was so kind to confirm my reception of OL Luleå on 377 kHz (as well as OO Örnsköldsvik):

We’re happy to confirm these receptions – technically OL Luleå @ 377 kHz belongs to our colleagues in Luleå but due to workload right now I’m confident you’ll struggle for a reply there. They have quite a bit more work this time of year than we do so they’re pretty busy right now. I feel confident enough that we’re looking at OL Luleå here so I’ll go ahead and confirm that.

Luleå Airport is quite a busy airport with regular flights to Gothenburg and Stockholm, but also to Paris, Düsseldorf and London, plus charters to various holiday destinations around the Mediterranean.

QSL SAQ Grimeton Centennial Transmission

December 14, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 1 Comment

December 1st, 1924, was the day on which the VLF transmitter in Grimeton with call sign “SAQ” was taken into service. The station connected with telegraphy transmission across the Atlantic to Riverhead and Rocky Point on Long Island, New York.
The quality of the Centennial Transmission was exceptionally good… better than any of my SAQ receptions so far.

e QSL SAQ Grimeton 17.2 kHz, December 1st, 2024

QSL NDB OD-322 Örnsköldsvik

October 10, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

The fifth and final beacon of this series. A QSL for NDB OD-322 Örnsköldsvik Airport. Not in Lapland but close. Örnsköldsvik is the first airport in the world to have a remotely controlled air control tower. It is controlled from Sundsvall–Timrå Airport.

Below please find the excerpt of the email to QSL the Lapland beacons. Thanks to Chris from AVISEQ. Feel free to contact me for the QSL address by dropping a comment!

QSL NDB DK-328 Vilhelmina

October 10, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

The fourth beacon from the Lapland region in Sweden. Chris from Aviseq sent me an email to QSL NDB DK at 328 kHz, Vilhelmina. The beacon serves as navaid for South Lapland Airport, 1547 km from my QTH.

As is the case for Lycksele and Hemavan Airport there are daily flights from Vilhelmina to Stockholm Arlanda. Vilhelmina itself has a population of only about 4000. Apparently the huge distances to be covered in Sweden justify the airport.

QSL NDBs NUT-325 and SUT-342 Hemavan Airport

October 9, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Another two NDBs from Lapland, Sweden. NDBS NUT on 325 kHz and SUT on 342 kHz serve as navigation aids for Hemavan Tärnaby Airport. The distance to my QTH is 1632 kilometers.

Hemavan Tärnaby Airport with the ski resort Hemavan in the background

Hemavan and Tärnaby are ski/winter sport resorts. From the airport, which is adjacent to Hemavan, you can see the slopes in the background. Amapola (aka Populair) Airlines operates flights between Hemavan and Stockholm Arlanda.

My reports were confirmed by Chris from AVISEQ.

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 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.