353 QG

[pinto vortando]

Not hearing 353 QG Windsor ON... 
AFAIK it was not on the latest decommissioning list.
Last logged @ this QTH 8-24-20, sounded weak (usually big sigs hr).

[pinto vortando]

Did some internet searching, looks like there may be a NOTAM regarding this beacon for the entire month of October,
but could not determine any specifics.

[pinto vortando]

This one is really sick,
very weak with random miscellaneous tones.

[pinto vortando]

QG off the air this morning.
Allowed me to log 353  PG  Portage la Prairie  MB
for the first time.

FWIW, did some research on how this Manitoba town got its
intriguing sounding name.  Seems that the early explorers
Radisson and Groseilliers  (the French Canadian version
of our Lewis and Clark) had to portage (carry) their canoe
overland at this point hence the name. 

[pinto vortando]

QG very weak yesterday (11-8-20), not hearing it this morning.

Also, FWIW, 375  7B  St. Thomas  ON  not heard here for the past
month or so... don't see it on the decommissioning list although
IIRC Canadian number prefix beacons may be private owned. 

[pinto vortando]

QG loud and clear this morning.

[pinto vortando]

QG seems to have fizzled out... have not heard it all December.

Also, 375  7B  St.Thomas  ON,  not heard here since October,
suddenly went QRT.

AFAIK, neither one was one a decommissioning list.

[skeezix]

QG is not in service according to NAV CANADA NOTAM:

(G1943/20 NOTAMR G1845/20
A) CYQG B) 2012181910 C) 2101082359
E) WINDSOR NDB QG 353KHZ U/S)


Decoded:
A) CYQG - Windsor
B) Starting Dec 18, 2020 UTC 1910
C) Until Jan 08, 2021 UTC 2359
E) Windsor NDB QG 353 kHz out of service (U/S = unservicable)


7B is also out of service:

(M2906/20 NOTAMR M2556/20
A) CYQS B) 2011171331 C) 2102171300EST
E) ST. THOMAS NDB 7B 375KHZ U/S)


A) CYQS - St Thomas
B) Starting Nov 17, 2020 UTC 1331
C) Until Feb 17, 2021 EST 1300
E) ST. THOMAS NDB 7B 375 kHz out of service (U/S = unservicable)


What precisely "out of service" means is up to NAV CANADA, but its not good. They may be on the air at reduced power, out of tolerance, or off the air entirely.


At least those two have an end date. A bunch of NDBs here in MN have NOTAMs that have an end date of "permanent." Those shall never return.

[pinto vortando]

skeezix,

Thanks for the info.
QG is an old timer, my first NDB logged over 50 yrs ago.
Anyway, with QG and 7B silent, have been able to log some
DX on their frequencies.
A lot of beacons have gone dark here in MI as well,
but now many Canadians are also going off the air forever.

[skeezix]

They are being turned off in the U.S.. The Minneapolis-St Paul area used to have four of them back in the late 80's and now there are none. The last one to go off the air was HOPEY (PPI) on 400 kHz that was decommissioned Oct 31, 2019. It has finally been removed it from the charts with the revision that is now current. Don't know why they didn't remove it earlier. When I started DXing back around 1988, the Twin Cities area had four, HOPEY an MHW, NARCO (MS) an MH-SAB/LOM on 266 kHz, VAGEY (AP) an LOM on 338 kHz, and BABCO (BA) an LOM on 385 kHz.

MHW: Less than 50W without voice
MH-SAB: Less than 50W with transcribed weather
LOM: Compass Locator Outer Marker

My all time favorite NDB is KENIE (AA) on 365 kHz in Fargo, ND. I used that one in flight training back in the late 80's and have listened to it frequently since (including now as I type this). If that one ever goes away, it will be a very sad day.

There are many NDBs in MN pending removal from the charts.  There are still a few left that are operational, but very few and most (maybe all) of those are the lower power LOMs.

All is not lost with the ADF in aircraft, as can plot MW broadcast stations on charts and use them for navigation, unofficially. I did that a couple of weeks ago and was quite useful. Can't use them for an instrument approach, but sure would be fun to do so.

[pinto vortando]

Have logged 400 PPI back in 2017.  AA is a regular visitor here, heard it yesterday morning... the Buddy Holly destination airport IIRC.
Sounds like you know how to fly a NDB approach, pretty much a lost art today.

There were at least 3 beacons at Detroit Metro (DTW) back when.  367 DW and 388 DT have been gone for a while, 223 JZJ (formerly DM)
went silent a couple years ago.

Once upon a time, you would often see a dual ADF installation in a Canadian plane (180 or Beaver or such) but not so much anymore.

We had dual ARN-6 ADF on our planes in the Navy (long ago) but TACAN was the favorite for navigation.  The bird dogs were good for listening to the ball game. 

Off the top of my head some MI beacons now SK:
212  JX    Jackson
230  VQ   Detroit
243  OZW  Howell
269  FN   Flint
338  DE   Detroit

FN was my favorite for a quick ramp check.  If the ADF could point Flint from Pontiac (PTK) on the ground (about 25 mi) it was good to go.   

[skeezix]

Glad that you can hear AA. Its a great beacon. It soothes the nerves.

I have done a lot of NDB approaches. The great thing about them during training, is you could pick some random broadcast station away from an airport and do the approach. My instructor would get NDB approaches from all over the country, including some higher altitude ones from Montana, and we would do the approach over 1310 KNOX. We weren't talking to ATC and my instructor was "ATC." It was fun and was able to do a wide variety of things without bothering anyone.

As a civilian, I never did any TACAN approaches, but we have our VOR approaches. Back then, GPS was only that which the military could use. One of our planes had LORAN-C receiver in it, but I never used that. All I could ever get it to do is display the current Lat/Long, which was kinda useless. It probably did more, but never had the chance to explore it in depth.

I did a PAR approach into an an AFB which may have been the most fun approach I've ever done. Sadly, PARs are rare these days too. I think the nearest one today that has a published PAR approach is in MO. Its on my list of things to do (again), but that's a trip.

Dual ADF with an RMI would be the best. The RMI makes NDB navigation & approaches very easy. Getting a plane is on my list of things to do and ADF in it is required. RMI would be very good. Dual ADF + RMI would be a dream come true. And if eLORAN gets going in the U.S.... that goes in the plane too.

Back then and even now, I consider the ADF the "entertainment system." Listen to music & whatnot on it. These days, people talk about the ADF & NDB with disdain, but I tell them how great it is. After my flight using MW broadcast stations for navigation... I think they think I'm nuts. But I'll work on them, starting with leaving the ADF in the aircraft and not removing it.

The list of SK NDBs in MN is rather long. I'm afraid to venture into the neighboring states. I flew up to Churchill, MB many years ago and they had a beacon up there. That was decommissioned a year or two ago. Too bad too, it was nice hearing that one. I'm still on the watch for Alert, NU on 305 kHz near the top of the world and see if it ever comes down there. So far not a peep or even a hint of a peep for that one.

[pinto vortando]

Dittto on the RMI, makes it nice especially when tracking a NDB.

TACAN is similar to VOR.  The DME portion is available on a VORTAC.

As for LORAN, have only used APN-70 LORAN-A (dating myself here)… had to dial each of usually 3 stations individually
and using an oscilloscope-like display figure out which line you were on for each of the stations. 
Then, referring to the chart find your lines from amongst
the series of hyperbolic lines and locate where (hopefully) they all intersected. 
Quite a process and, of course, the airplane was moving the whole time.

Now that 305 MB is off the air, hearing LT becomes a possibility. 
Have heard a carrier on 305 a couple times and a dit or dah or two
but it remains elusive.

Hopefully you find a plane someday.  It will be interesting to watch the look of disbelief
in the avionics shop when you request the ADF/RMI installation.   

[skeezix]

I've been listening for LT on 305.4 CW with a nice narrow filter. That's one thing I really love about the Canadian beacons and their 400 Hz tone. The U.S. beacons with their 1020 Hz tone sits right near an adjacent carrier.

I have a Collins ADF that someone gave me a bunch of years ago when he upgraded his avionics. It worked great at home until I accidentally left it on for three days and now something is wrong with it. It will need to be fixed at some point.

[pinto vortando]

353 QG back on this morning at full strength.