NDB - Beacon photograph page

NDB / Beacon page from Walter - PE1ABR

Here you can find some photographs taken from a few longwave beacons within a one-day travel distance from my home town.
Each country has its own preferences how to construct them.

In Holland: allmost everywhere low gain towers (construction pylon) with a resonance coil halfway.

In France : small base coil, big top coil and hughe capacitive hat: i.e. very strong signals. They are being replaced with much simpler poles.

In Belgium: hughe construction towers, or modern small glassfiber poles. Sometimes: very, very old clothesline construction with wooden poles.
Like former: 393 DEN Denderhoutem.

All Schiphol - Amsterdam and Zestienhoven - Rotterdam beacons look alike. Like the Teuge beacon, foto08.jpg + foto09.jpg. Also visited: 388.5 CH (Schiphol) near Buitenkaag, NV 332.0 (Schiphol) near Nieuwkoop, PS 369.0 (Zestienhoven) near Heenvliet (west of Spykenisse), RR 404.5 (Zestienhoven) near Haastrecht (Gouda). Aerial gain is very low, signals are NOT strong.
Signals from France with big wheel hat aerial (if used) are much and much stronger.

Click over HERE to view the last (old) version of Walter's beacon list in PDF.
Keep in mind this is a "once heard list" and it is NOT updated for many years due to a lack of "listening" time. It is an archive file!

A quick identification Morse Code Table in PDF. Higly edited, painted and cleaned, 40 - 50 year restored copy from an old book.

Click on the images to enlarge

foto01.jpg
MRV 404.0 - Merville (Calonne).

Aero NDB in the North of France. North beacon airstrip, south beacon = MVC 327.0.
Picture shows top part of the aerial with big wheel (capacitive hat) and the resonance coil. Estimated coil height: at least 1 meter.

UPDATE: The beacon has been modernized. The whole nice aerial is gone. It's now a simple pole without the big wheel! (half the original height)

foto02.jpg
MRV 404.0 - Merville (Calonne).

Aero NDB in the North of France. Total view aerial and big wheel. Due to the capacitive hat construction a good aerial gain: a strong signal on a large distance. See foto01 for more info

UPDATE: The beacon has been modernized. The whole nice aerial is gone. It's now a simple pole without the big wheel! (half the original height)

foto03.jpg
TWN 335.5 - Twenthe.

Aero NDB in east Netherlands. Detailed photo: only tower isolater, spark bridge and resonance coil construction. The radiating top part has extension wires to give it more capacitance to ground. This increases the aerial's gain.

foto05.jpg
MRV 404.0 Merville (Calonne).

Aero NDB in North of France, total view aerial and big wheel plus more surroundings. See foto01 for more info

UPDATE: The beacon has been modernized. The whole nice aerial is gone. It's now a simple pole without the big wheel! (half the original height)

foto06.jpg
NIK 336.5 Nicky St-Niklaas.

Aero NDB (towards Zaventem) in Belgium. Hughe construction in the middle of the town St-Niklaas.

foto07.jpg
YM 288.5 Ymuiden in The Netherlands.

Marine beacon at harbour entrance towards Amsterdam.

foto08.jpg
TGE 391.0 Teuge beacon

(for small air strip), near Apeldoorn East in the Netherlands.

foto09.jpg
TGE 391.0 Teuge Beacon,

detail view of picture foto08.

foto10.jpg
TWN 335.5 Twenthe.

Aero NDB in east of the Netherlands. See picture foto03 for more info.

foto11.jpg
DD 352.5 Ostend Aero

South beacon of Ostend (Oostende) airstrip. Located on the west coast of Belgium near Middelkerke. Beacon located on a camping site!! Construction is a glassfiber pole with some glassfiber branches on top of it. Looks like a lightning conductor construction.

foto12.jpg
ING 387.0 St.Inglevert. (Calais)

Another big wheel and resonance coil from France. This one is located south of Calais. Due to the capacitive hat: again a strong signal on large distance. See foto01, 02 and 05 to compare.
It probably is modernized too...., I haven't visited it recently.

foto13.jpg
WW 309.0 Antwerp. (=Antwerpen).

Located near Deurne. Also a glassfiber pole construction. See foto11 info.
If you look well you see a plane flying in just over the beacon: the system works.....

Beacon page: baken.htm
by Walter - PE1ABR - 2024-07-23