QRVO1 On The Road

Here’s a translation of what the flamingos in the zoo of Riga said on Sunday, August 31 at precisely 3:05 pm. According to my Morse code translation tool this is it, but I am not alltogether sure. Need to go through it step by step again and then check back with my aviation acronyms. Lots of work, quite hard to keep up with it. Would very much appreciate some help here.

  T  ITA TGA M TAJ ETTDE  TM E E O U ETA EM ET T T O T TT M E T T T A N E E E E TA TT T E IW ET  N IEEV LI EW EVTE EN EI E T/  I TE T K E T T EO E MTT T E TTA A EEMETMI N S E  E T  I T T E  N TETT T T   E ETN E E T    E    T      N  R I0MF UNEBZTK ST  EQMEJ S TK M M C D M A I IN  E O R E3 E  I EVE ANMNEAB E EYM  TM DIT TT ETT TTT ETT E A E I MNR R T A M T E E T ARTMTTNET I T T T E  EE A T TNTT5 O A I SM N A TTTA TE E   E  T E 5EE ET E E T T     5 E     T   DSENNEHT ESI I TE E I IT  E E DT T        T  T TA ED  TD T S T A E  N E T E T TI N Z  EM TTA ITE EM E YE N T  IOI MA    M T E  E   A N N  E T T N T GE T S T G  T T      E TT F M W M R T EEE G AS  ETET EN 0 T   OYAUTNE MA T  EEMM E  I R OE  E TTT ND I TTN TT O I T E EO E T  M     KTET TE E TE  E 

On board the Baltic Queen

Taking the Baltic Queen from Tallinn to Helsinki. It’s the biggest and slowest ferry, and it’s loaded with all sorts of things to enjoy while going from one country to another. After a round of Bingo, they have a band performing in the tango lounge, there’s all sorts of gambling machines around, a cosmetic boutique, a sauna and a cigar club. There is the Manhattan Piano Bar, the Ibiza Disco, the Sevilla Bar, the Grill House, the Russian à la Carte Aleksandra, a cafeteria, and of course, last not least there is a supermarket. A good part of it is dedicated to all kind of beer brands and even folding hand trucks are available, so people can pile up several of the 24 packs and stay mobile with their load. One single can is 3€, a whole pack between 12 - 18€ according to the brand.

Passing by now and again I can see the piles shrink as we make our way across the Gulf of Finland. QRVO1 starts to feel tempted to do like most of the others and make provisions for Finland, where alcohol costs at least four times as much. 

Finally he decides that it just makes more sense to spend a small amount here rather than a bigger one over there. Maybe it’s some kind of nordic romanticism that makes me get Lapin Kulta, the golden beer of Lapland, as they call it…

Paldiski beach, about 1km south of the industrial harbour. Lots of cormorants around. Hard to say what their messages are. Very few utterances, sort of covered by the noises from the port.

Some road signs

One night and half a day at Puise Cape, opposite side of Muhu Island. Plenty of house martins around. Very chaotic coding. Mainly E’s, I’s, S’s and H’s, as far as I can decipher this jumble. Now and again an A as well. Having a look at my list of abbreviation acronyms, the content of their animated conversation can have to do with A (di-dah) for attack, class-a airspaces, asphalt, alert areas, ampere or adults. E (dit) for echo, the east, an even altitude or an emergency. I (di-dit) for island, (fuel) injection or for infants. S (di-di-dit) for the south, straight-in (landing), sensitivity or for summer time. H (di-di-di-dit) for hotel, economy class, heavy (items) or a high level. Not to mention all the possible combinations like IA (di-dit di-dah) for intermediate altitude or AH (di-dah di-di-di-dit) for an artificial horizon… Quite disturbing all this. I’ll need to slow down the recordings to see what’s really there…