A QSL for NDB SPP for Sevilla Airport on 420 kHz. Thanks to Enaire for confirming my reception and sending the data sheet:
NDB SPP is located 7 kilometers east of Sevilla San Pablo Airport. When I checked the location I noticed that the beacon is surrounded by solar farms. Exactly these are the point of a controversy in the Netherlands as their reflection creates a safety risk as pilots are blinded.
NDB SPP (here still indicated with its old call sign SVL) amidst the solar panels
The current situation at Schiphol Airport… a lot of concerns are voiced by aviators.
Obviously it might be that approach angles, solar height are different, but it just caught my attention. Thanks again to Enaire for confirming my report as always.
Most NDBs are located either on the airport or somewhere in a field. So when I got the QSL for NDB SO on 390 kHz I was a bit surprised. I checked Google Maps but indeed, there it was, right in the centre of the village Sigüiero, next to appartment buildings and the local soccer stadium. About 7 kilometers north of Santiago-Rosalía de Castro airport.
NDB SO-390 kHz for Santiago de Compostela, in the centre of Sigüiero village (GoogleMaps)
Compared to the other beacons from the north coast of Spain, B (Bilbao), COA, C (La Coruna) and SA (Santander), NDB SO is less often heard at my QTH. And this was the first time in reasonable quality, good enough for a report.
Santiago–Rosalía de Castro Airport was previously named Lavacolla Airport and is also known as Santiago de Compostela Airport. It is the biggest and busiest airport in Galicia and the 2nd busiest airport in northern Spain after Bilbao Airport. The fact that it is at the end of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela does help obviously and traffic is still growing significantly. The airport has been named after the Galician romanticist writer and poet Rosalía de Castro on 12 March 2020
EEC on 327 kHz is a NDB for the military heliport El Copero near Sevilla, Spain. As with EAG and EAL . Enaire (QSL via informacion(at)enaire.es) could confirm my reception report but without their usual data sheet as it is a military installation. It is definitely not one of the easier beacons to log, with only 88 entries in the REU database, so I am pretty pleased with this QSL!
NDB con indicativo EEC:
Ubicado en el Helipuerto de Sevilla/El Copero. Instalación perteneciente al Ejército que da apoyo a los procedimientos instrumentales del Helipuerto de Sevilla/El Copero
Frecuencia 327.000 kHz
Coordenadas publicadas en AIP. ETRS89: 37º18’43.4”N 006º00’07.3”W
Heliport at the “El Copero” military airbase near Sevilla
Originally “El Copero” (which translates as Cup Bearer in English) was a base of the Spanish Air Force but due to the proximity of the river and possible flooding the location wasn’t optimal. The base was transferred to the Army on December 30, 1975. and is home to the units of the Maneuver Helicopter Battalion IV (BHELMA IV), of the FAMET that has assigned 16 Eurocopter AS332B1 Super Puma .
There are three Baleares Islands… Ibiza, Menorca and Palma de Mallorca. I received and QSL-ed two of them, but not the main Island Palma de Mallorca. An earlier report to Enaire (who are very reliable verifiers, thank you Enaire) was missed, but this time they confirmed my report with their nice data sheet:
The beacon serves Palma de Mallorca Airport. It is the third largest airport in Spain, after Madrid-Barajas Airport and Barcelona Airport. In the summer months it is one of the busiest airports in Europe.
And is located here:
Thank you Enaire for the service you provide to us hobby listeners!
Radio Stad Montfoort, or RSM, is the local radio station from the little city of Montfoort, only 5 kilometers south of my QTH. Remco Kuijer was so kind to confirm my reception report. One of their programs is “Radio Bingo”. This game program is so popular that even from other provinces listeners participate by tuning in to their live stream.
When tropospheric conditions are not too unfavourable, Ici Nord, broadcasting with 130 KW on 94.7 MHz is an easy catch here in Woerden. Somehow my MP3 recording didn’t reach Alex at the PR desk but the details of my report were sufficient for an email confirmation:
Hello Peter,
I’m Alexander, i’m working for listeners relationship in ICI NORD radio ! Nous sommes honorés d’être écoutés depuis les Pays-Bas, votre pays est magnifique !
Je ne trouve pas votre enregistrement dans le mail, mais d’après ce que j’ai pu lire je peux vous confirmer qu’il s’agit bien de notre antenne ! La fréquence 94.7 est la plus forte de toutes nos antennes !
« Nous confirmons que Peter Reuderink a reçu Ici Nord, émettant depuis la région Nord-Pas-de-Calais, à Lille, en France sur 94.7 MHZ, le 20 mai à 8h 49 CEST »
Je vais vous faire parvenir quelques autocollants à ajouter à votre collection, ils datent d’avant le changement de marque ! Nous nous nommions avant janvier 2025 « France Bleu Nord » et nous sommes donc devenu « Ici Nord » cette année !
Bonne soirée à vous,
Alex
My first QSL for this station is from 1985 when it was still called Radio France “Fréquence Nord”. In 2000 the local radio stations from Radio Bleue and Radio France partnered and the station continued as France Bleu Nord. Since 2024 the France Bleu networks have been rebranded to “Ici”, with “Ici Nord” for this station.
1985 QSL letter for Frequence Nord 94.7
UPDATE: Alex sent me some nice stickers via the mail which arrived a view days later. Thank you Alex!
On the 22nd of May there was a nice SpE opening towards Bulgaria. One of the stations I heard was BNR Radio Varna playing some traditional music.
Mrs Kremena Ivanova was so kind to confirm my reception. She wrote that Radio Varna celebrated its 90th birthday on December 9th, 2024 being the oldest radio station in Bulgaria. A bit of history from Wikipedia:
In 1933, Dimitar Kulev, then a student at the Varna Boys’ High School, assembled two amateur radio transmitters together with his physics teacher , with the more powerful of which on January 6, 1934, he broadcast a live performance by the “Sea Sounds” choir.
On May 25, 1933, the Varna Radio Club was established as a section of the Rodno Radio Union. The first live radio broadcast from Varna was made on January 6, 1934 on medium waves with a frequency of 1276 kHz. On July 19, 1934, the Ministry of Railways and Transport authorized the construction of a radio station and in September 1934, the trials of Radio Varna began.
The birth date of the radio is considered to be December 9, 1934, when a concert was broadcast from the Varna “Unity” Hall, which was the first medium wave broadcast in Northern and Northeastern Bulgaria
On 25 January 1935, Tsar Boris III signed the decree establishing the Bulgarian National Radio. The document, which officially marked the beginning of “Radio Sofia”, as the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) was then called. Radio Varna got a new board an became part of BNR.
Radio Nacional de España is one of the few national broadcasters in Europe that still has a solid mediumwave presence. And they have local programs. Problem for us DX-ers is that the various stations share frequencies, so it’s difficult to identify the individual stations. At 7:45 hours local time however the stations have a local news bulletin and ID:
Artur from Maresme DX was so kind to help me to get a verification for RNE Galicia. Big thanks, it is so nice to make friends in this hobby!
Shortwave Radio from Winsen is an easy catch here. For a little compensation they will confirm your report with a traditional QSL card. You can read the details on their website.
old school QSL card from Shortwaveradio.de, Winsen, Germany
The station is located in Winsen “on the river Aller”. So that is the Winsen located 20 km north of Hannover, Germany (there is another Winsen south of Hamburg). They broadcast on 6160 and 3975 kHz. Next to their own program Shortwave Gold there are various other program producers that use the Shortwave Radio facilities.
A fully detailed email QSL for my reception of WLRP Radio Raíces – La Voz del Pepino – on 1460 AM from San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. I made my reception during my stay in Curacao. A distance of 725 km for a station with 0.5 kW on a small portable receiver isn’t bad, but the fact that it is all over water does help.
Radio Raíces was broadcasting a sort of “Latin Golden Oldies” with amongst others a very nice song “Quizás, quizás, quizás” by Nat King Cole that I didn’t know. They are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year as they started broadcasting in 1965.
The nickname “La Voz del Pepino” for WLRP Radio Raíces is tied to the town’s nickname, “El Pepino.” San Sebastián is commonly referred to as “El Pepino” in Puerto Rico, a name derived from the Spanish word for cucumber, though the exact origin of this nickname for the town is unclear.
I sent my report to radioraices1460(at)gmail.com . While I typically get replies on email reports within a day or so… this one took 9 weeks. So it was a nice surprise!
The new 2018 antenna of WLRP Radio Raíces – La voz del Pepino – 1460 AM, Puerto Rico
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