Tag: Longwave (Page 4 of 8)

QSL NDB WCK-344 Wick

February 5, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

My 4th QSL from a HIAL airport! The other ones are Islay, Benbecula and Kirkwall. I sent my report of my reception of NDB WCK at 344 kHz, Wick, to info@hial.co.uk, and got a detailed letter plus a holiday brochure by regular mail from Neil Bramble, Senior Air Traffic Controller at Wick John O’Groats Airport.

posted by regular mail: QSL letter confirming reception of NDB WCK Wick/John O’Groats

Wick John O’Groats Airport is located in the northern tip of Scotland and hence the most northern airport of mainland United Kingdom. The only scheduled flights are by Eastern Airways to and from Aberdeen.

QSL NDB LAY-395 Islay

February 3, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

The Islay airport is one of 11 airports operated by HIAL (Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd.) in Scotland. I sent my reception report of NDB LAY-395 Islay to info@hial.co.uk . The QSL was by email from Laura at the Islay Admin desk.

Islay is the most southern island of the Inner-Hebrides. The island has close to 3500 residents and 9 (!) whisky distilleries. There is only one scheduled flight, twice a day, by Logan Air to and from Glasgow.

QSL NDB VR-365 Gran Canaria

January 23, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

The third QSL I received for a beacon from the Canary Islands: NDB VT-365 on the island of Gran Canaria. The largest island, but not the beacon with the best signal overhere as you can see on the Pskov image on my PPC. I got my QSL via informacion@enaire.es

QSL NDB HIE-376 El Hierro

January 20, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

During the CLE299 all of a sudden I received three beacons from the Canary Islands. I’ve said it before, reception from a station based on an island is somehow always a bit special. So I am very pleased with this QSL for NDB HIE-376, located on the island of El Hierro.

“PPC” QSL for NDB HIE-376 El Hierro, Canary Islands.

El Hierro is the tiniest inhabited island of the Canaries. But it has an airstrip, and on the picture below you can actually see the radio beacon, to the left of the terminal building. It’s a tiny airport, and traffic is limited to flights from Tenerife and Gran Canaria.

El Hierro Airport. Photo © Iván Berrocal

As was the case with the QSL for the NDBs on the Baleares, the email confirming my reception came with a fully detailed datasheet:

QSL 7 NDBs from Bulgaria

January 16, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

There are 9 active NDBs in Bulgaria. During the CLE299 event I was able to receive 7 of them. Mr. Kostadinov, Deputy Director Operational Systems was so kind to sent me an email confirming my reception of:

GNA-284 Gorna
BOZ-312 Bozhurishte
DWN-350 Devnya for Varna
KMN-399 Burgas/Kamenar
PDV-450 Plovdiv
WAK-490 Vakarel
PD-537 Plovdiv

Despite the distance, which is between 1719 and 1958 km from my home QTH, I receive these beacons on an almost daily basis. But on the other hand I did not yet receive the remaining two: BD-297 and BU-321…

QSL NDB CSD-345 Daouarat

January 15, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

Via ONDA (Office Nationale des Airports) in Morocco I received an email to QSL my reception of NDB CDS-345 Daouarat. This beacon is located south of Casablanca. Mr. Fouad Naji, Chef de Division NAV, encouraged the passion of a DX-er, which is nice. I sent my report to communication@onda.ma .

I’m looking for a neat way to document my NDB QSLs other than just printing the emails. The example above is what I’m currently thinking about. The relevant info, email, company logo and the signature recorded by Pskov.
What do you think? Comments are more than welcome!

QSL DR Kalundborg 243 kHz

January 10, 2024 / Peter Reuderink / 5 Comments

Another long wave icon is gone. The longwave transmitter of Danmarks Radio in Kalundborg on 243 kHz was taken off the air on December 31st. Sadly that is the third big longwave station gone that I posted about on this blog. On January 1st, 2023 the RTL Beidweiler transmitter on 234 kHz was taken off the air. And RTE Summerhill on 252 (formerly Atlantic 252) left the theater in April.

Fortunately Mr. Jens Seeberg, former engineer at the station, was so kind to award my reception report with a nice QSL card. The photo was taken by him and a colleague engineer making a tour by airplane. I sent my report to jseeberg@post3.tele.dk

The site in Kalundborg was opened in 1927. At some point in time the transmitter had an output of 300 kW. In recent years operations were already trimmed down to 50 kW, and transmissions confined to shipping weather forecast and news bulletins.

QSL NDB MAK-360.5 Mackel

December 18, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

NDB MAK-360.5 Mackel is an en-route beacon for Brussel Airport. Koen Vanooteghem told me in his QSL for the Oostende NDBs OO, DD and ONO, that historically this beacon is maintained be Skeyes as well. So I sent him a report which was immediately confirmed.

I shared with Koen what I learned about the situation in The Netherlands with NDB NW for Maastricht Airport being the “last man standing” as some satellite navigation details had to be worked out with Belgium. Koen told me that as of January 1st, 2024 all Belgian Airports should have RNAV (satellite navigation) operational. EBAW (Antwerp) has been ready for a while, EBOS (Ostend) is ready since November this year. So the expectation is that Belgian NDBs will be taken off line by end 2024.

QSL NDB DD-352.5, OO-375, ONO-399.5 Oostende

December 18, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 2 Comments

The radiobeacons DD, OO and ONO for Oostende Brugge Airport are maintained by Skeyes. Koen Vanooteghem of Skeyes, a HAM operator himself (ON6BVK) was so kind to confirm my reception report. Thanks to Arvid Husdal for the tip.

QSL NDB DNC-425 Mostar

December 8, 2023 / Peter Reuderink / 0 Comments

Today I received another email from BHANSA, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Air Navigation Services Agency. This one confirmed all three radio beacons I sent a report for to info@bhansa.gov.ba . So this adds a QSL for NDB DNC-425 Mostar to my collection. A big thank you to Mr. Vlado Juric for this confirmation.

Apparently Mostar Airport is struggling a bit compared to Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Tuzla Airports. In 2012 it was still the 2nd airport after Sarajevo, mainly because of pilgrimage to Medjugorje. Over a million people per year visited this town where Our Lady of Medjugorje appeared to six teens in 1981. I really recommend reading this Wiki about the complexity of religion in an already complex political environment.

During COVID Mostar Ariport lost the two companies carrying out scheduled flights from Mostar Airport, so it is used by seasonal charters only these days. You can find the other QSLs and stories about Bosnia by clicking on these links: BLK-340 and TU-445 .