Tag: LF (Page 2 of 5)

QSL NDB TON-335 Torralba de Aragon

March 6, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

Enaire was again so kind to confirm my reception of a few NDBs. I got a QSL for NDB TON Torralba de Aragon on 335 kHz. As usual with a nice information sheet:

Unfortunately it wasn’t clear to me from the information provided what the purpose of this beacon was. Torralba de Aragon is a small village, 115 inhabitants just south of the Pyrenees. There is a nearby airstrip, but on Ourairports.com the function is described as “terminal area navigation”. So my guess is that the beacon supports navigation at Zaragoza Airport.

Back to Torralba De Aragon, just because I like what this hobby brings us. Torralba is a small village but it has a beautiful church. I learned that the tower is built in Mudéjar style. The Mudéjars were the Muslims who remained in the former areas of Al-Andalus after the Christian Reconquista in the Middle Ages and were allowed to practice their religion to a limited degree. Mudéjar art is valuable in that it represents peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Christians during the medieval era. The things you learn triggered by a beacon sending – / — / -.

QSL NDB MI-346 Mikkeli

February 27, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

There are only 9 NDBs left in Finland. I heard 3 beacons for Kokkala-Pietarsaari airport in 2023, but my reception reports to Fintraffic remained unanswered.

Mikkeli Airport however is a small airport in the Finnish Lake District and they have their own local management. I sent my report to airport@mikkeli.fi .Mr. Sami Kahilakoski, FIS manager was so kind to confirm my report of my reception of MI on 346 kHz. And included a nice scan of the Instrument Approach Chart. That’s so nice, as I got these on paper in the 80s, but this is the first one I got since I resumed my hobby.

So this is my first NDB confirmed from Finland. As I said, Mikkeli is a small airport, with no regular flights. But it is popular for sport, gliding and parachute jumping activities.

QSL NDB JV-367 Ilulissat

February 12, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Ilulissat Airport with the NDB JV tower visible in the background

Jakob Schytz, Ilulissat Airport Manager, sent me a very friendly detailed letter to confirm my reception of NDB JV on 367 kHz. And he also included a photo of the radio beacon (and one of himself in front of it, but for privacy reasons I prefer not to post that one here).

Ilulissat Airport is the 2nd biggest airport in Greenland. Currently a new airport is being built in Ilulissat, scheduled to be completed in 2026. Together with the airports in Nuuk and Qaqartoq the airport should form the backbone of air transport in Greenland. You can read more about these projects on the website of the Nordic Investment Bank.

QSL NDB SF-382 Kangerlussuaq

February 11, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A nice QSL email for my reception of NDB SF at Kangerlussuaq Airport on 382 kHz. I made my reception using the BDMR/Clashmore SDR during the “Pyramid Event”. But this is definitely one of the stronger Greenlandic beacons so at a noise free location reception is possible in The Netherlands.

Kangerlussuaq was the main airport in Greenland until the new Nuuk Airport opened in November 2024. There is a lot to be said about the strategy and politics behind the development of Greenland Airports, as you can read here. Climate change apparently plays a role, as permafrost underneath Kangerlussuaq is thawing. But at the same time the Kangerlussuaq airport has a future because its location is less sensitive to weather and traffic disruptions, which is important for cruise ship passengers. And yes, in these days where Donald Trump is talking about taking over Greenland: this airport was constructed by the US military during WWII, when Denmark was occupied by Nazi Germany.

Don’t forget to watch this nice Youtube clip about Kangerlussuaq Airport, its history and surroundings.

QSL NDB AA-336 Aasiaat

January 16, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

A QSL from another Greenland NDB which I received via the Clashmore Kiwi in Scotland during the recent CLE event: NDB AA on 336 kHz for Aasiaat airport. The operator was not allowed to open the MP3 file, but the description of the beacon signal was suffucient. The email text misses the details, but I have another email from Greenland Airports headoffice that does contain the details for my reception of this beacon AA-336 Aasiaat as well as NA-359 Narsarsuaq.

Aasiaat is a small airport on the west coast of Greenland, south of Disko Bay. From Aasiaat you can fly to the bigger airports at Nuuk and Ilulisat. In winter there are cargo flights from Aasiaat to nearby settlements for which you can book a seat as well. In summer the connection is by ferry only.

QSL NDB NA-359 Narsarsuaq

January 12, 2025 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

During the last CLE of the NDBlist group I received a few NDBs from Greenland using the BDMR Kiwi in Clashmore. I wrote to Bo Mogensen from Tussas who confirmed my reception of NDB OZN earlier. He explained to me that OZN is a bit of an exception, but that most other beacons are operated by Greenland Airports.

So for my reception of Narsarsuaq I sent a report to bgbw@airports@gl. Within a day I got a reply. According to Wikipedia: along with Nuuk Airport and Kangerlussuaq Airport, Narsarsuaq is one of three civilian airports in Greenland capable of serving large airliners. It is also the only international airport in southern Greenland.

A new airport in Qaqortoq is however currently under construction and is scheduled to open in late 2026. This eliminates the need for Narsarsuaq as a domestic and Iceland-bound gateway to South Greenland. In 2022, the Greenlandic government decided that Narsarsuaq will be downscaled to a heliport, losing the runway.

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 KF-392 Keflavik

December 1, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 4 Comments

Apologies for not posting for a while but I was busy with a) some admin stuff for the Benelux DX Club, and more importantly: b) the finalization of the documents to be sent to the potential builders of our new house… From a DX perspective I see it as an investment in a low QRM future!

But I still owed you this one: an e-QSL for NDB KF Keflavik on 392 kHz. My first QSL for an NDB on Iceland. An e-QSL but it is scanned. And as everything I post on this site has to be scanned anyway… you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference!

Keflavik is the largest airpot in Iceland. And the government tries to promote it as a transfer hub with the option to explore a bit of Iceland on your journey.