The wonderful world of listening to the radio
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.
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.
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 CoruƱa. 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.
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:
Enaire is a reliable verifier of my receptions of NDBs. That’s nice as there are still quite a few NDBs active in Spain. I received NDB C on 410 kHz, and NDB COA on 401 kHz, both close to Coruna Airport. For this weblog I googled a Coruna Airport picture and I was surprised to see an Estrella Galicia beer commercial on their tower š.
Enaire always includes datasheet pictures in their reply. Can someone comment on the antenna lay out, it almost looks like a dipole?
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!
I received a friendly email to QSL NDB LAR-382 and EVR-425 Portugal. Rosa Roque, head of maintenance at FIR Lisboa Airport, answered the email I sent to geral@nav.pt . The same address that verified my reception of NDB FIL on the Azores.
Dear Peter,
We confirm that these are the frequencies and the call sign of these radio beacons.
It’s amazing how, under exceptional propagation conditions, a frequency can be heard at such a great distance.
This is to confirm that Peter Reuderink has received radio beacons LAR on 382 kHz, and EVR on 425 kHz.
Many thanks. Best Regards.
Atenciosamente,
Rosa Roque
DOPLIS/MANLIS ā Head of Maintenance Services
Lisbon FIR Operations Directorate
As far as I know their are 4 NDBs left in Portugal. Two of them can be received most evenings at my QTH,
LAR at Arruda (I guess the callsign is derived from Lisboa-ARruda) is situated north of Lisbon International Airport aligned with the runway.
EVR is situated at Ćvora Municipal Airport. The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer owns two plants adjacent to the airport.
A QSL for NDB MIA-292 in Melilla. As Melilla is a Spanish enclave on the North African coast it counts as a separate radio country, a new one for me. I chased for a week on this one. Made SDR recordings from sunset until sunrise of the 290-310 kHz band, in 1 hour segments. Next processed the recordings with Pskov.
This resulted in 3 loggings of MIA, of which one was clearly identifiable and thus reportable. Unfortunately I did not obtain an good copy of NDB CEU-300 from Ceuta, which is also high on my wish list.
I sent my report to informacion@enaire.es, and as with earlier reception reports the confirmation email contained a datasheet but also a high quality photo of the antenna.
I received an email as QSL NDB PX-389 Perigueux-Bassillac, France. A big thank you to Juan Antonio Arranz who provided me the email address for this beacon. Unfortunately the beacon will be switched off in May this year as the team wrote in their email:
It’s always surprising to know that our PX beacon can be received from so far away! Not long ago we received the same message from Spain.
Indeed, unfortunately the beacon will be out of service from May 2024. The associated procedure can no longer be used. In France, Civil Aviation is reducing costs, particularly when it concerns small airfields. The PĆ©rigueux aerodrome has no longer had a regular service since June 2018.
We are managed by a joint union and account for around 15,000 movements per year: leisure and business aviation, organ transport and medical evacuations, military training, etc.
Our team is made up of 4 people: 2 agents at the control tower and 2 airport firefighters.
Austro Control sent a nice fullly detailed QSL. I got my QSL NDB GRZ-290 via info@austrocontrol.at . The beacon was located on Graz Airport in Austria.
And yes: “was located”. Because this is another NDB that can’t be heard anymore. More and more of them are taken out of service, as they are deemed obsolete as modern VOR and GPS systems are now available to support navigation.
NDB GRZ was taken off the air on September 7th, 2023. Fortunately I still had a Pskov recording from its final month of operation. I guess I better hurry to get my other Austrian NDBs QSLed.
QSL for NDB SAY-431 from Stornoway signed by Peadar Smith, Air Traffic Controller. Peadar answered my reception report by email first and offered me to sign a PPC as well. And since I thought of starting using PPCs again I gladly accepted his offer:
Stornoway is situated on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, United Kingdom. The airfield was opened in 1937, primarily for military purposes. Today it is owned by HIAL and mainly used for domestic services.
My QSL is the 5th from a HIAL airport (Islay, Wick, Benbecula and Kirkwall other the other NDBs I received a QSL for). I sent my initial report to info@hial.co.uk. But you could also send your report to directly to Peader at the address below. Mind you: Peader is an avid stamp collector, so trust he will be very happy if you could add some stamps with your report!
Peadar Smith
Air Traffic Controller
Port Adhair SteĆ²rnabhagh
Highlands and Islands Airports Limited
Stornoway Airport, Isle of Lewis, HS2 OBN
United Kingdom
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