My 2nd QSL in the series of 10 NDBs from Serbia was for NDB VTN-468. It serves as navigation aid for Morava Airport near Kraljevo. Verie signer was Mr. Savic from SMATSA, the air traffic services provider for Serbia and Montenegro.
Morava Airport is the third largest airport in Serbia, after Beograd and Nis. The military part of the airport is known as Lađevci Airport . The civilian part was opened in 2006. Apparently it is struggling bit to really grow to its full potential. Currently there are flights to Tivat in Montenegro, Thessaloniki and Istanbul only.
JST on 405 kHz was one of the first more remote NDBs I heard when I resumed DX-in over a year ago. The beacon is located NW of the Niš Airport in Serbia. I was very interested in verifying this beacon, as so far I was not able to verify a radio station from Serbia. All my “Serbian” QSLs date from the Yugoslavia era.
Via Patrick Robic (thank you!) I received the email address of Slavisa Savic, assessor at SMATSA llc, the company responsible for Air Traffic Services in Serbia and Montenegro. He also confirmed my reception of the TVA beacon on 345 kHz from Montenegro and was so kind to do this for the 10 beacons I received from Serbia as well. With the QSL of JST-405 Niš/Justic I have my 196th radio country confirmed!
Niš Constantine the Great Airport
Nis Airport is located in the South East of Serbia. It is the 2nd largest airport in Serbia. The full name is Nis Constantine the Great Airport, name after Roman Emperor Constantine the Great who was born in Niš (named Naissus at the time). Constantine the Great – as you might have learned at school – was the first Roman emperor who converted to Christianity in 312 AD.
Between October and December 2023 I received 11 NDBs from the Czech Republic. I received a QSL for 4 of them via ANS , but the other 7 were the responsibility of the Czech military, for which I didn’t have an email address.
A big thanks to Patrick Robic who made me aware that NARFA CZE confirmed his reports in the past. I sent my report to narfa@army.cz . And indeed, 1st Lieutenant Lucie Mertová was so kind to QSL my reception of the following NDBs:
CF-345.5 and C-715 for Caslav Airbase PK-432 and P-888 for Pardubice Airport (shared mil/civil) K-438 for Praha-Kbely Airbase LA-514.5 and XU-563 for Namest nad Oslavou Airbase.
NARFA is the National Frequency Agency of the Czech Republic. They are part of the Czech Army. A good overview of their activities can be found on the NARFA website.
The fifth and last on my recent QSL email for NDBs in the North of Spain: NDB B-395 Bilbao. The beacon is situated on Punta Galea, left of the Bilbao harbour entrance, next to the golf club.
Below the ENAIRE datasheet submitted with my QSL, and a slightly better picture taken from Google Maps. Similar to San Sebastian NDB HIG it is a dipole suspende between two towers at 12 m height.
Datasheet NDB B Bilbao
Slightly better picture of the NDB B set-up on Punto Galea, Bilbao (Google Maps)
Another NDB from the north of Spain on my recent QSL from Enaire: HIG-328 San Sebastian. The call sign refers to Cabo Higuer, which is where the beacon is located. The frequency is 328 kHz.
Data sheet NDB HIG Cabo Higuer
Enaire always sends nice data sheets with their emails. Unfortunately the resolution is a bit on the low side. But NDB HIG can be “approached” in Google Maps, which gives a good impression of the set-up. The antenna is a dipole suspended by two towers (orange arrow) at 12 mtrs height. The dipole is fed (green arrow) from the little building (red arrow). Nice detail is the ENAIRE sign post.
Earlier I posted about my QSL for NDBs C-410 and C-401 from A Coruña. These beacons were confirmed as part of a set of 5 NDBs I received from the north of Spain. The other beacons are SA, B and HIG. NDB SA on 416 kHz is located near Seve Ballasteros – Santander Airport.
Email to QSL my reception of NDBs C, COA, SA, B and HIG in the North of Spain
Seve Ballasteros was a well know golfprofessional who at the age of 54 after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. In 2015, four years after his death, the Santander Airport was named after him. The position of the beacon in relation to the airport can easily be seen on the ourairports website. It sits nicely in line with the runway.
And as always the information desk at Enaire included a datasheet for this beacon:
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!
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.
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