The NDB List Beacon Section

This is the Beacons section of our website, and on this page you will find lots of links, information and publications that will help you to discover the wonderful world of Beacon DXing. Beacons covered here include the Non-Directional Beacons (NDBs) which are mostly to be found on the lower frequency Bands, and also HF Amateur Propagations, which can be found on all Amateur Radio Bands from LF to UHF, but with the majority on 28 and 50 MHz. DGPS Beacons are also covered, but you will find the information about this in our specialist 'Datamodes' Section. The publications and links below will help to point you in the right directions, but if you think that Beacon Hunting might be for you, then we would recommend joining the NDB List, where you will find lots of fellow enthusiasts who will be only too happy to help and to share their experience with you. Details on how to join the group can be found below. Please click on the buttons below to visit the other sites and sections on this website, or check below for more information on how to join the NDB LIST.

visit the Beacon
Photo Gallery:

click to visit the
new 'REU' page:

click to visit the
CLE Section:

click to visit the
new 'RNA' page:

click to visit the
Datamodes Section:

click to visit the
new 'RWW' page:

click to return to
the Home Page:

THE NDB LIST MAILING LIST:

The NDB List was formed in November 1998 to cater for European NDB enthusiasts, but has now grown to a worldwide membership covering all parts of the world, and all types of analogue beacons such as NDBs, HF Propagation Beacons, Cluster Beacons and Amateur Experimental Beacons. Because of the growing interest in DGPS, DSC and NAVTEX monitoring within the group we decided to expand this into three new groups, and include other data modes as well, and members (or potential members) with an interest in these modes might like to check out these groups via the links above. In spite of the closure and impending closure of many Aeronautical NDBs, we still expect that there will be many around for quite a few years yet, so this aspect of the hobby is a long way from dead, but if you are interested in these types of signals we would recommend chasing them whilst you still can. Please note that this group is privately owned, and is also a very friendly and well behaved group, so all new membership applicants have to be approved first. We're not elitist, but we do take the security of our members very seriously, so if you are a troll, flamer or spammer don't bother to apply, you will definitely not be welcomed or tolerated here.

To join the group or find out more visit the group's page at: https://groups.io/g/ndblist

THE NDB LIST AWARDS SCHEME:

The Group also runs a very comprehensive Awards scheme, where members can set themselves all kinds of interesting challenges, and and qualify for one of these impressive certificates. For more information about the service click on the button below to visit the Awards Section:

USEFUL NDB AND BEACON RELATED PUBLICATIONS,
ARTICLES AND SOFTWARE:

	NDB PUBLICATIONS 2022: NEW EDITION JANUARY 2022 New for 2022, brand new editions of the Michael Oexner's popular and essential 'European NDB Handbook' (ENDBH) containing over 8,300 NDBs, the 'North American NDB Handbook' (NANDBH) covering some 5,900 NDBs. Also the new and unique 'The Global NDB Handbook' (GNDBH), containing some 17,100 NDBs worldwide, and perfect for those who like to listen on the various and ever growing network of WebSDRs around the globe. For full details of prices, and information about where to obtain the publications, just click on the image or link above and download the .pdf file:
	Pskov NDB v2.1a: - Ivan Monogarod's impressive and unique software, which helps to decode the weakest of NDB signals and offers a whole new aspect to the NDB hobby.
	AN INTRODUCTION TO BEACON DXING v1.1: This 50 page publications takes some of the information from the old and no longer available 'Beacon Hunter's Handbook' and presents it here in a simpler format for anyone just starting in the hobby. 'An introduction to Beacon DXing', is just that and is completely free of charge, and can be printed out either as one complete file, or as three separate parts if preferred.
	QSLING THE BEACONS: This 5 page article by experienced QSL Hunter Steve McDonald VE7SL, will help you to find out how to go about getting a verification from that Non Directional Beacon:
	NDB LIST COUNTRY CODE LIST: This list shows the system of country codes used for the purposes of NDB List CLE Events and Awards. Please note that these are in no way representative of political borders and are purely based on 'radio countries':
	THE HISTORY & ORIGINS OF THE NDB LIST: This article gives some information about how and when the NDB List was formed:
	THE ORIGINS OF THE MONTHLY COORDINATED LISTENING EVENTS (CLEs): This article gives some background on how and when our monthly Coordinated Listening Events began:
	NDB LIST ABBREVIATIONS FILE: This printable 20 page publication list gives a comprehensive list of many of the terms and acronyms used on our mailing lists and website:
	MAINE TRANS-ATLANTIC NDBs 2017: This excellent article by Andy Robins, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA contains a fascinating look at what could be heard on the KiwiSDR owned by Bill Whitacre, and which is located at Quoddy House, in Lubec, Maine in November and December 2017, if you've not yet tried DXing with a remote SDR then maybe this will spur you into giving it a try:
	TRANS-PACIFIC NDBs 2017: Another superb article by Andy Robins, this time it features a look at the Trans-Pacific NDBs that Andy found when going through a Perseus SDR recording made by Bill Whitacre on the Pacific Coast in Washington and Oregon:

THE RNA-REU-RWW ONLINE DATABASE:

The "RNA-REU-RWW" Online Database is a unique project run by Canadian DXer Martin Francis and his team, and shows which NDBs are currently active, and when and where they were last heard. The "RNA" stands for "Received in North America", and list NDBs, HF Beacons, Navtex Stations and DGPS Beacons from that area, that have been received by listeners, and similarly, the "REU" (Received in Europe), and "RWW" (Received World-Wide", also cover the other parts of the world. If you would like to make use of the Database, or even add your own logs to it, you can find out more about it, and also Martin's "NDB Weblog" program by clicking on the button below:

LINKS TO USEFUL NDB, LF/MF/HF BROADCAST & HF BEACON RELATED SOFTWARE:

	EIBIview 3.0: - NEW VERSION 3.0 NOW AVAILABLE (January 2014) This is a wonderful little freeware utility program, developed and kindly supplied to us by Tobias Taufer (T2) from Germany, and is designed to show the scheduled LF, MF and HF Broadcasts as they come up. You may wonder why this is available here on a site devoted beacons, but many LF enthusiasts like to listen to LF Broadcast Stations too, even if only as a means of checking for propagation, and the powerful broadcast signals are very useful for this purpose. Not only that, many of us like to listen to Shortwave Broadcast Stations too, and this is an excellent program to use for this purpose, and we would heartily recommend it. Navtex enthusiasts can also download Tobias' excellent 'NAVTEXview' program from the Datamodes section of this website. To install just unzip it to a folder, and then double click on the 'EIBIview30.exe' icon to run it, or create a shortcut to this on your Windows desktop.(942kb zipped - updated 1st of January 2014) You can also find the program, and download updated EIBI files from Eike Bierwirth's excellent EIBI Shortwave Broadcast website at: http://www.eibispace.de/.
	NDBFINDER DECODING SOFTWARE: - This program was produced by Bev at COAA for use in decoding very weak NDB Signals, but now also includes the ability to decode LORAN signals. Not freeware, but a 21 day fully working trial version can be downloaded from this link.
	QUIZITIVE ID SOFTWARE: - This excellent new program created by list member Doug Springfield, will also decode those 'Quizitive Idents' as well. The accompanying text file which explains how to use the program is included in the zipped archive. Our thanks to Doug for sharing this useful program with us.
	SPECTRUM LAB - DECODING SOFTWARE: - This popular program can now also decode DGPS signals, and best of all it's free of charge. This excellent program from DL4YHF is not quite as user friendly as some of the others, but is well worth taking the trouble to get to know.
	TWO TIMER SOFTWARE: - Another excellent new program from list member Doug Springfield, this one is ideal for timing those Beacon Ident patterns. The instruction file in .txt format is also included in the zipped archive. Our thanks to Doug for sharing this program with us.
	WWSU 6.4: - Not a decoding program, but an excellent database program showing NDBs, NAVTEX, DSC and DGPS stations and beacons. Created by Alex, VE3GOP, this is an excellent piece of software for any DGPS enthusiast to have at their disposal. Also very useful for creating your logs, and can be edited to show any notes you wish to make.