Thanks to a tip from Goran Hardenmark I was made aware of a transmission from NTNU Ålesund, Norway. During a class exercise a radio check was made on 3366, 8297 and 12353 kHz. I heard nothing on 3 MHz, some weak conversation on 8 MHz (but not sure if it was NTNU), and a clear “All ships all ships” at 09:20 UTC on 12 MHz. I have to admit that I need to train my ears again for proper USB listening: I got a bit spoilt with all the digital modes!
eQSL NTNU Ålesund for their USB Radio Check on 12535 kHz
The Radio Check could be monitored via their Facebook group. And this also gave me the opportunity to chat with Mr AH Barmen who coordinated this course. He provided the following details:
The frequencies we used today are reserved for intership communication, 3366 KHz have been used for intership communication in Nordic waters, the two others are randomly picked from Appendix 17 – Sub Section B of the Radio Regulations. All maritime schools that provide training for maritime radio certificates are equipped with a ship radio station that can use these frequencies.
On our radio station we have a Sailor 6300 MF/HF radio, 150W and a 12 m antenna, in adition we have Sailor and Furuno NAVTEX receivers, two Sailor VHF’s, INMARSAT-C and an Iridium LT3100s.
I also received the special eQSL card for this event. Thank you Mr. Barmen!
Yep, not the shortest title for a post, probably the longest. Last week I received a DSC transmission identifying as MMSI 002573550 with a test to MMSI 002570000 “Norwegian Public Correspondence”. MMSI 002573550 is listed as Vardo VTS (Vessel Traffic Service).
Norway Vessel Traffic Service (Kystverket) has a nice website but to be honest the structure of VTS is not immediately clear. From this link I conclude that there are 5 VTS centres of which Vardo is one. They are responsible for safe maritime traffic, which includes things like navigational and weather warnings. But they seem to be active on VHF only. Nevertheless I decided to send a report to post@kystverket.no . Within a day I received this answer:
Good afternoon. NOR VTS/Vardo VTS/Navarea 19 and The National Coordinator for Navigational Warnings is placed i Vardø in North Norway. We broadcast navigational message to the seafarers. This we do in collaboration with Norwegian Kystradio. Some types of messages they send out and some we send out but the responsibility lies in Vardø. Norwegian Kystradio is located in Bodø. We are under Norwegian Coastal Administration. Best regards VTS operator NOR VTS NORWEGIAN COASTAL ADMINISTRATION
Not really a QSL. I followed up asking if they could confirm it was their station I heard, but that email has not been answered yet.
In parallel I sent a report to Kystradio Nord in Bodø. This resulted in this answer:
So where does that leave me? Well… in the old days (40 years ago) things were easy. You had an office, your own transmitter, your own antenna. Today you have a service. The service could be “monitoring emergencies” like what Kystradio Nord does, or “ensuring safe maritime traffic” like what VTS Norway is doing. But the employees often don’t have an idea on the technical infrastructure needed to perform these tasks. That is a given, with transmitters and antennas operated and maintained by contractors – such as Telenor.
I saw a post on the internet that said that we should regard MMSI 002573550 as a convenient telephone number. If that call is made and received by the antennas in Vardo (or any other antenna) the operators know that this call has to be routed to Vardo VTS (if there is even an operator involved to route such a call). That makes perfect sense.
I assume that it doesn’t make sense for Kystradio Nord to run a test with MMSI 002573550 for Vardo VTS via one of their other MW transmitters like in Bodø. So… this is a QSL for MMSI Vardo VTS via the Kystradio Nord transmitter in Vardo. Any thoughts? Let me know in via the comments on this post.
The eQSL for Kystradio Nord which also accompanied the “Vardo VTS” QSL.
QSL for NDB RBU on 401 kHz and NDB RS on 336 kHz. Both are serving Roros Airport, a small airport in mid Norway. Wideroe operates flights to Oslo from here. Like NDB NMS-329 Namsos the beacon is inspected by FNT Midt at Avinor. Mr. Aune was so kind to confirm my reception.
One of the Norwegian coastal radio stations I heard often in CW during the 80-ies was Rogaland Radio. But I never managed to get a QSL from them. Today they frequently pop up in the DSC log for 2187.5 kHz. So I decided to send a report to Mr. Stian Tveit who is so kind to act as QSL manager at Kystradio Sor in Norway.
It turned out that I not only heard Rogaland Radio but also Bergen Radio… another one that was missing in my collection. Thank you Stian for the QSL!
QSL card from Kystradio Sor for the reception of the Rogaland and Bergen transmitters
QSL for NDB NMS-329, a navigation aid for Namsos Airport. This regional airport is located in central Norway, situated along the river Namsen, which flows into the Namsenfjord. Namsos Airport has one of the smallest runways for airports with regular flights. They are operated by Widerøe with destinations Trondheim, Oslo and Rørvik, as part of a public service obligation. As Trondheim is only 165 kilometers away, and roads between Namsos and Trondheim are upgraded, many people travel by car to Trondheim to take a flight from there.
The beacon is one of those that I receive quite regularly in the Netherlands. Thanks to Goran Hardenmark for helping me out with the contact address at Avinor for the QSL!
Email to QSL NDB NMS for Namsos Airport on 329 kHz
As my antenna is usually directed WNW/ESE for Transatlantic MW DX I don’t receive them too often. But during last weekend I was busy chasing NDBs and had the antenna pointing North. In addition to Arkhangelsk Radio I had a nice reception of a NAVTEX message from Vardø Radio on 518 kHz. Within a day I had my QSL.
eQSL for Kystradio Nord
Vardø is located on the NE tip of Norway, 2430 kilometers away from my QTH. Together with Svalbard and Bodø Radio the station serves NAVAREA19, basically the waters around Svalbard/Spitsbergen. The stations are remotely operated from Bodø.
Vardø on the NE tip of Norway is 2340 km from my QTH.
Via Stian Tveit, QSL manager at Kystradio Sør, I got this informative QSL letter for my reception of Ørlandet Radio at 518 kHz, I sent my report to kystradio.sor@telenor.no, but you can also send your reports directly to stian.tveit@telenor.no. Mind you, Kystradio Sør is only responsible for stations below 65N. The more northern stations are responsibility of Kystradio Nord.
QSL letter from Ørlandet Radio on 518 kHz
Orlandet Radio, callsign LFO is one of three stations that broadcast NAVTEX information on 490 and 518 kHz. The others are Jeloya and Rogaland Radio, all controlled from Kystradio Sør. UPDATE: what is known as Jeloya (letter M) is actually located in Tjome/Horten and should be referred to as Tjome Radio. Rogaland (L) and Orlandet (N) are still – albeit remotely operated – separate transmitter sites. See also comments below. (Thanks to Stian Tveit from Telenor).
LGQ Rogaland Radio with B1 “L”, Jeloya which is actually Tjome “M”, and Orlandet “N” came in nicely!
When you are collecting QSLs it is ups and downs. Sometimes you receive a QSL every single day, and sometimes the (e)mailbox is a barren desert. It was like that when I started this hobby in the 80-ies, and it’s still like that since I returned to the radio waves. But… it is also a good opportunity to reflect upon some old QSL cards. And since my last post was on “Kystradio Sør”, I’d like to share three QSLs from Norwegian Coastal Radio Stations that don’t exist anymore as “independent” stations: Florø, Tjøme and Aalesund. In the 80-ies there were at least a dozen stations Norwegian Coastal Radio stations active on MF. 2182 kHz was the “calling frequency” where vessels and coastal stations made the initial contact. Announcements of weather bulletins and navigational warnings were made here. Most sought after by DX-ers were the stations like Jan Mayen, Bjørnøya and Longyearbyen, as they provided the opportunity to QSL Jan Mayen and Svalbard, two separate EDXC radio countries (I did hear Jan Mayen once, but never got a QSL… I had to hunt NDBs to get these countries). Receiving the stations was one thing, but QSL-ing the Norwegian stations was another challenge. In the end I only managed to get three of them: Florø, Tjøme and Aalesund. Want to learn more? Check this Wikipedia article on the history of Telenor Kystradio.
QSL Florø Radio, a former coastal radio station from Norway.QSL Tjøme Radio, Norway, from 1982 A QSL from Aalesund Radio from 1988. In those days Norway had a dozen or more coastal radio stations.
I already made a post about the QSL from Kystradio Nord, Bodoe, Norway. Earlier this year I also received a QSL card from Kystradio Sør (Coastal Radio South) from Sola in the southern part of Norway. It was broadcasting a DSC message. In the past the station in Sola was called “Rogaland Radio”. But with the merger of the operations of Tjome Radio, Floro Radio and Rogaland Radio, the name was changed to Kystradio Sør. Actually, the TX location I received was located in Florø. Kystradio Sør operates with 24 operators, mainly on VHF and MF. Everything south of 65N is the responsibility of Kystradio Sør, everything north of it is for Kystradio Nord. Both stations are operated by Telenor and are not owned by the government.
Not all Maritime stations respond to reception reports. But those who do might send beautiful (e-)QSL cards, like this one from Bodoe Radio, Norwegian Coastal Radio North. In Norway there are only two centres left, north and south, that coordinate maritime radio transmissions. The Floro, Alesund, Tjome stations of the past are no more. But this beautiful QSL for my reception of Bodoe radio DCS on 2187.5 kHz makes up for that. Big compliments to the folks at Norwegian Coastal Radio North for providing this service to us DX folks!
QSL Bodoe Radio, DCS, 2187.5 kHz
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