A friendly email from Camilla Lundell, Air Traffic Controller to QSL NDB ON-324 Norrköping Airport in Sweden. That is 1023 km from my home QTH.
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Using the PskovNDB software I received so many new beacons during the SQUEEZE100 event that I did not know where to start sending QSL requests. I decided to target Lithuania, Sweden and Croatia as you can find good address information on the web.
Mr. Filip Wiberg, Chief Operations ATS Kalmar (filip.wiberg(at)acr-sweden.se), was so kind to QSL NDB KM-366 for Kalmar Öland Airport. Located on the east coast of Sweden this beacon is 894 kms from my home QTH.
The transmitter site at Roumoules is owned by Monaco Media Diffusion. Located in France they are among the most powerful in the world. The 2000 kW long wave transmitter on 216 kHz went silent however in 2020 when Radio Monte Carlo decided to focus on FM and internet only. The 1000 kW transmitter on mediumwave is still in use by TWR (Trans World Radio). For my reception report I received this nice QSL TWR Roumoules 1467 kHz.
I listened to a program in the Arab language (which I don’t speak) and then it is difficult to pick up details. But then I heard the name of Brother Andrew mentioned a few times. Checking on Wikipedia I learned that he was a Dutch missionary. For his activities in smuggling bibles and christian literature into communist countries during the Cold War he earned the nickname “God’s Smuggler”. So even if you don’t understand a language, you can still learn something in this hobby!
There are three NDBs (Non Directional Beacons) active in Lithuania. Earlier I got a QSL for my reception of the beacon PN-407 in Palanga. During last weeks “SQUEEZE 100” event I received the other two.
Mr. Malinauskas from Oro Navigacija was so kind to send me an email as QSL for NDBs KUS-343 in Kaunas and AVN-385 in Vilnius.
Within a day I got an email QSL for Radio Centrale Milano 1575 kHz. Thanks to a tip in Hugo’s DX Hoekje I learned that they are testing on 1575 kHz.
You can already listen to Centrale Milano via an internet stream. The station intends to start broadcasting via mediumwave from Alessandria, Italy, as well. Despite a power of only 10 Watts and a distance of 840 kilometers the reception was pretty good August 28th, 23h UTC. During the tests the station transmits a pulse with increasing pitch. That results in a very interesting waterfall on the HDSDR as you can see in the picture below. But it is even nicer to view and listen to a little YouTube clip I made.
In the email reply on my reception report Enzo at Radio Centralo Milano wrote:
Yes, we are testing our site near to Alessandria where we are authorized to use the 1575khz formerly in charge of the Italian Rai and now assigned to us.
The test are performed with a 50mt folded dipole and 10w carrier. We are authorized to 1kw and it seem we will reach you again probably much better ! The regular programs currently available online will be soon activated replacing the test tones and increased (in quality and number of direct ‘on air’) starting from January next year.
I’m 60y/o, owner of the radio and very happy to meet person as you, with your passion for the radio. Congratulations for you ability to capture a so low signal coming from so far away !
You will receive soon our QSL, for the moment thanks again and stay tuned !
Last weekend I participated in the “SQUEEZE 100” NDB event, organized by the NDBlist group. Aim was to log 100 NDBs (Non Directional Beacons) in an as small frequency range possible. Hence the name “SQUEEZE 100”.
I had participated in two earlier events this year in which I logged only 4 and 13 stations respectively. So I decided that I needed a bit of help and installed Pskov NDB software. The result was impressive. Not knowing what to expect I started monitoring between 300 and 500 kHz. After I had 100 NDBs logged I could start to zoom in a bit, trying to squeeze the frequency range.
In total I logged over 183 NDBs. Between 350 and 403 kHz I had exactly 100 NDBs, close to 2 per kHz! The picture above shows the most distant ones I heard. With 3033 km OZN from Prins Christian Sund in Greenland was on top of my list. I was also very happy to catch three beacons from Iceland (KF-392; VM-375 and HN-330) and two from Algeria (ON-415; BJA-423).
Below the Pskov screenshot of my OZN-372 log:
I have QSLs from various program owners that had there programs broadcast via WRMI, Florida, USA. But until now I didn’t manage to QSL the station itself. I was worried my reception reception report of 5050 kHz in March this year would also remain unanswered. But today I got this beautiful postcard QSL. Definitely worth waiting for!
Radio Taiwan International usually transmits their German program from the Kostinbrod site in Bulgaria. But in July they were also in the air from Tamsui in Taiwan. I received them on 11995 kHz. Reception reports were award with a special QSL Radio Taiwan International.
Don’t know why but I always liked NDB (Non Directional Beacon) DX-ing. Maybe because it because it is all about low power stations in CW. Maybe it is because they brought me a QSL that everyone was looking for in the 80-ies: Jan Mayen Island and Bjornoya (Bear Island) in addition to Andoya. In the EDXC country list Jan Mayen and Bjornoya, the latter being part of Spitsbergen/Svalbard, count as separate radio countries!
Actually i was quite surprised that NDBs are still in the air as navigation aids these days. I understand that the beacons that were mainly serving maritime traffic (like the ones above) are gone, but their are still plenty of airports that have an NDB up and running.
40 years ago I had this Murphy B41 tube receiver working for me on my NDB hunts. Designed shortly after WWII it was standard British Admiralty issue. It was rock solid and had a superb S/N performance, but it also weighed over 45 kgs! I vividly remember how much effort it took to carry it to the attic in my parents house. It was even equipped with a manual that described how you could effectively destruct the receiver should it risk falling in enemy hands.
Back to today: I opened this post with “Daddy’s got a brand new tool!”. It is called Pskov NDB. Of course many of you will probably know it already, but hey, I’m just 8 months back in business. NDBs have a periodic signal. With this knowledge a Fourier analysis technique is used to pull the CW signals out of the noise… So just record 10 to 30 minutes of long wave bandwith with your SDR, and let Pskov have a go at it. I’ve been playing with it for a day – and I love it already!
You can downloaded Pskov from the NDBlist site. The good news is “it is for free, and with your RSPdx receiver and laptop, you have to carry significantly less than 45 kgs!”. The bad news for me personally is that I do realize that I have programmed and done many Fourier analyses in the past working to get my PhD in Physics. But I really forgot how to do it….
I received Alcaravan Radio on Sunday night on 5910 kHz. Following a program with Latin American music I heard a DX program “Onda Continua”. In this program they also transmitted their call sign and frequency in CW, so I could practice my morse skills again. The e- QSL Alcaravan Radio 5910 kHz arrived in just two days.
The DX program was presented by Rafael Rodriguez who is also QSL manager for Alcaravan Radio: rafaelcoldx@yahoo.com . He wrote me that “Onda Continua” is aired on Saturdays and Sundays at 1, 4 and 9 hr UTC.
Rafael also invites you to visit his DX blog: http://dxdesdecolombia.blogspot.com/, and his Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DXdesdeColombia/videos .
VERON : NL 14228
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