Messages

241

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Morning Beacon Log

« on: September 13, 2022, 1338 UTC »

All heard on my KX3

4095.650 KHz  DW. BAT 12.9 volts, oTMP 72 deg, iTMP 77 deg, 1 mAmps
4109.5 KHz  Coast Slider with a fair signal here
7039.300 KHz  Russian K beacon, Booming in here.  New format, K sent 5 times then a very short pause
7039.400 KHz  Russian M beacon. Fair signal

242

HF Beacons / Re: Currently Active Beacons Chat

« on: September 12, 2022, 0457 UTC »

Hey Chris,

It seems the active beacon list has the wrong frequency for HIKER. It should be 7998.2

See the current "UNID ditter beacon:7998.2" thread on the HF beacons forum.

Many thanks for maintaining the list  -- its very useful!

I looked at a bunch of threads and see conflicting information. As recently as July 17, 2021 Hiker was on 8005. older threads show Hiker and Shorty transmitting separately. 

Then there is this which sounds, ahem, authoritative...

The beacon list is not correct at this point in time ,the correct freq. is 7998.2 Khz. 
Months ago I copied a cw message on the beacons freq. it referred to the beacon as the hiker beacon.
What you and I  heard was the slow dasher or ditter if you prefer. It has a ditter at a bit faster rate. It even has a very slow long  1.5 sec dash with a space of about 2 sec.
It has been a few months since the operator has sent cw.  I don't think many of the HFU listeners ever caught the morse messages.
The speed is pretty slow 10-13 words per minute sent  by a military leg key from the Vietnam period of time.  The operator was a high speed intercept operator. 
I forgot, the cw messages seem to follow the Long dash mode. The beacon is in a jeep with a tuner and a whip antenna. I think this info. is probably on this web site.
This summer the op. was fishing a lot of small streams and therefore the location of the beacon was in a state of flux.

I find it strange that after years of Hiker being on 8005 it suddenly changes to a frequency that overlaps Shorty.

243

HF Beacons / Re: Madonna

« on: September 01, 2022, 1620 UTC »

Searching on “Madonna” gets us some hits

Desert beaconeering... alledgedly i can neither confirm nor deny:

Madonna Beacon - fast dasher inyo - sun only 1/3 watt - 4097.23 plus/minus drift Sun angle/etc.

Buddha (once Phallaxyy for a rock formation nearby...) is weak - like 30 mW ERP on 4096.20 or so 3 sec dash - alopng with Coxie drifting JTNBP 4096.0-ish... this was Once Viking...

go figure...

just hear-say and thoughts... Hmmm...

So Madonna is/was a dasher beacon in the Inyo mountains area and sun only. The Marin Ditter is AC line powered in the attic of an apartment building

244

HF Beacons / Re: Another New Dasher? 4095.92, 2212Z, KPH SDR

« on: August 30, 2022, 1411 UTC »

Long dash beacon via KPH online SDR just above the venerable DW...... complete with key click!

https://postimg.cc/0MjrcYVb

https://soundcloud.com/user-538100235/dasher-kphsdrcom-2021-11-28t22-12-02z-409592-cwn

73's

What happened to the audio recording?

The waterfall picture is still there

245

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Morning Beacon Log

« on: August 30, 2022, 1407 UTC »

Using some SDRs this morning

4095.650 KHz  DW. S8 into KFS SE, BAT 13.5 volts, oTMP 87 deg, iTMP 92 deg, 749 mAmps
4109.350 KHz  Coast Slider with a fair signal into KFS Omni, sweep ends at 4109.7
7039.300 KHz  Russian K beacon, S9 into the KFS Omni. New format, K sent 3 times then a pause
7039.400 KHz  Russian M beacon, weak into the KFS Omni
7998.19  KHz   Hiker, fair into the KFS Omni

246

HF Beacons / Re: New whooper beacon on 4095.65

« on: August 23, 2022, 1822 UTC »

It looks like the battery voltage is dipping from the immediately preceding logs, taken at roughly the same time of the evening and an earlier sunset now.

08/23/2022, 0400 UTC, 4095.6 KHz carrier frequency, received on the KPH kiwi SDR, Point Reyes, CA, SINPO 25232.

BAT 12.1 (V)
OTMP 100 (F; still hot in the desert well after dark. Also perhaps the sensor is not in the open air.)
ITMP 107 (F)
PV 1

The beacon maker’s thread is here
https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,85047.0.html

They state the otmp readings are from an outdoor sensor and the battery has a low volts disconnect. In all of my logs I’ve never seen the voltage below 12.8 and given my own weak skills with Morse a very low appearing reading was more likely to have been 13.1 rather than 12.1 volts.

I cross check temps by looking across temps in desert towns as well as seeing that DW’s two readings usually have a 3 to 7 degree delta based on time of day. A year ago I saw the iTMP hit 120 degrees.

247

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: kiwi software glitches or just problems at KFS?

« on: August 18, 2022, 1417 UTC »

Pigmeat,

You’ll have to be content to squeeze the knobs you have within your grasp.

248

HF Beacons / Re: Russian MX beacons log.

« on: August 13, 2022, 0139 UTC »

Petropavlovsk on 7.039.3MHz often has transmission irregularities as does the 8.495.3MHz transmission.  Thanks for reporting, I will pay more attention to it this evening.

Thanks! I did spin over to 8.4953 but did not hear anything on the KX3. I forgot to try the SDR but I think it was consumed by WhisperDudes.

249

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Morning Beacon Log

« on: August 12, 2022, 1349 UTC »

4095.650 KHz  DW. Weak signal, 13.4 volts, 86 deg, 91 deg, 535 mAmps. Must be cloudy?
7039.300 KHz  Russian K beacon, +35 dB over the noise! New format, K sent 3 times then a pause.
7039.400 KHz  Russian M beacon, weak

250

HF Beacons / Re: Russian MX beacons log.

« on: August 12, 2022, 1337 UTC »

Have you seen that the K beacon on 7039.3 has changed to sending the letter three times quickly then pauses? It's also extremely strong, about 35 dB over the local noise.

As always, thanks for all of your great logs!

251

HF Beacons / Re: Currently Active Beacons Chat

« on: August 06, 2022, 2356 UTC »

I can confirm Windy was on the air before 2009. I first caught it on Radio Shack DX-398/Sangean 909 clone that crapped out well before 2009. The antenna was a 40 meter dipole. I used to hear it in the mid-late afternoons here in the southern Appalachians. I was knocked out when I found out how little power it was running. It was a regular, reliable catch.

Thank you Pigmeat! I appreciate the contribution to the story.

McGreevy has claimed that Edson Hendricks built Windy (the "Wind" beacon) and after reading a bunch of things about Hendricks I could believe that to be possible. What is interesting is that Windy went off the air in May of 2020, McGreevy posted a weird cryptic message about Windy in June, Edson died in August of 2020 then Windy reappears in September.  I think that was when Windy's voltage telemetry seemed to indicate the lead-acid battery was gone and Lithium-ions were substituted and I also suspect the external temp sensor was stuffed inside the box. Temp readings were ridiculously high to be true outside air temps.  I also suspect the charging circuitry was not changed so the LiIon batteries were never properly charged, indicating low voltages or just going off the air for days. In early 2021 Windy's signal on the SDRs was showing signs frequency pulling as if the batteries can't supply enough current. Around May the signal from Windy and the battery voltage jumped up a bit as if fresh LiIons were installed. 

Over the following months Windy's health again trended downwards until in September it appeared to get new batteries again. By November it was ailing and in December it was off the air again.

So if Ed is dead, who kept going out there and jamming the (wrong chemistry?) batteries into the box? I'm glad they kept at it but sorry that Windy still gave up the ghost.

I found a McGreevy published photo of a visit to Windy from Spring of 2001 so Windy was kept on the air over a span of at least 21years!

252

HF Beacons / Re: Coastal Slider Back On 4109.5

« on: August 04, 2022, 0256 UTC »

I've got a weak but clear whoop from CS here at home on the KX3 and also on the KFS omni

It's a reliable beacon to check on for reception.

253

HF Beacons / Re: New whooper beacon on 4095.65

« on: August 04, 2022, 0252 UTC »

A bit noisy here at home and also on KFS SE

BAT  13.1
oTMP  103
iTMP   106  (interesting, only 3 degrees above ambient)
PV  2   

254

HF Beacons / Re: New whooper beacon on 4095.65

« on: July 27, 2022, 0548 UTC »

Easy armchair copy her at home tonight. No ear strain!

BAT  13.1
oTMP  94
iTMP   99  (interesting, only 5 degrees above ambient)
PV   1   (it's dark out there

255

22 Meter Band HiFER Beacons / Re: 13564.5

« on: July 27, 2022, 0546 UTC »

That's a neat catch Marcy!  It's a 22 meter Part 15 beacon and maybe you can get more info in this part of the forum: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/board,35.0.html