HFU HF Underground
Loggings => HF Beacons => Topic started by: Teotwaki on March 15, 2024, 0406 UTC
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Receiving it at home and on Half Moon bay on 3579.000 KHz
Sends 22 dashes, about a 4 dash pause then IDs as KOK
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I hear it also in Southern California. S9 signal. Very clear
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About 10 - 15 minutes ago I heard it really well here at home but all of a sudden it is gone? 13:55 UTC 15March24
Infant beacon mortality?
EDIT: Maybe night time only?
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KOK is on the air
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Dasher KOK just powered up
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KOK making it into Central AZ this evening. Fair signal with fading. 3579.00 KHz 18MAR2024 03:31z Airspy HF+ Discovery 60ft SE/NW longwire
https://youtu.be/bDUOyKyJlRQ?si=FsRIc26muLLtv_KD
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Aside from being in the 80 meter ham band (which could stir up a posse) there was something vaguely familiar about this frequency back in the cobwebs of my mind. Then it hit me, the old NTSC TV color burst frequency was 3.579545 MHz and there were always plenty of those crystals around to build an 80 meter QRP CW transmitter with. A little tweaking of the crystal frequency and there it is. Hmmm....
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March 19 time 12:35Utc in Colorado
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Seems to be gone now. Its signal was S4 to S5 when first reported, but I haven't heard it for the last two days.
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By coincidence, I decided to take a listen on the colorburst frequency this evening and maybe call CQ, in a vain attempt to revive the activities of the CLA (Colorburst Liberation Army). I like to monitor my signals on the KPH and KFS online SDR's. On looking at the waterfall, I noticed the KOK beacon, close by, on 3579 KHz. I can hear it at home in the SF East Bay, at about a 5 by 2. It's about a 5 by 5 on both KPH and KFS (Point Reyes and Half Moon Bay).
Googled it, found a YouTube video of it, and then this sub-thread.
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By coincidence, I decided to take a listen on the colorburst frequency this evening and maybe call CQ, in a vain attempt to revive the activities of the CLA (Colorburst Liberation Army). I like to monitor my signals on the KPH and KFS online SDR's. On looking at the waterfall, I noticed the KOK beacon, close by, on 3579 KHz. I can hear it at home in the SF East Bay, at about a 5 by 2. It's about a 5 by 5 on both KPH and KFS (Point Reyes and Half Moon Bay).
Googled it, found a YouTube video of it, and then this sub-thread.
Colorburst Liberation Army!! LOL!
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_w2YUJ5o_b4/YKo4s4emErI/AAAAAAAApro/TeacH-B1sT8E0uoty4tQQyrwYsDDBlKxACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/CBLA%2BLOGO.png)
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Another nice video from Token, this time it features KOK
https://youtu.be/LvxhB-xhSJE?si=nQhH_wExYuW9hcNO
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Maybe night time only?
I think you are right.
I have not heard it during the daytime (here on the West coast) but only at night. And looking through the reports in this thread, KOK has only been logged at night.
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By coincidence, I decided to take a listen on the colorburst frequency this evening and maybe call CQ, in a vain attempt to revive the activities of the CLA (Colorburst Liberation Army). I like to monitor my signals on the KPH and KFS online SDR's. On looking at the waterfall, I noticed the KOK beacon, close by, on 3579 KHz. I can hear it at home in the SF East Bay, at about a 5 by 2. It's about a 5 by 5 on both KPH and KFS (Point Reyes and Half Moon Bay).
Googled it, found a YouTube video of it, and then this sub-thread.
Colorburst Liberation Army!! LOL!
The Colorburst Liberation Army was a concept, if not started by Bill N2CQR, then much promoted by him in both the Soldersmoke Daily News blog, and the Soldersmoke podcast. The idea behind the name was to pay tribute to the armies of ham radio homebrewers who would liberate the colorburst crystals from the TV sets their neighbors put out on the curb, and put them to good use in homemade transmitters.
I must admit to being equal parts intrigued by this beacon, and miffed at the fact that it is operating in an amateur band. I'm both a licensed ham and a CW op, so I am not very happy about this beacon being where it is.
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The Colorburst Liberation Army, that's awesome! I have been licensed since 1971 and can't say I ever ran across that one so glad to be updated on that bit of ham history. I certainly liberated a few old TV sets haha! I am with you Dave, interesting beacon that should not be in a ham band.
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...................I must admit to being equal parts intrigued by this beacon, and miffed at the fact that it is operating in an amateur band. I'm both a licensed ham and a CW op, so I am not very happy about this beacon being where it is.
From the Forum's mission statement "We do not encourage any radio operations contrary to regulations. Always consult with the appropriate authorities if you have questions concerning what is permissible in your locale."
Having said that I have a question:
How is it that a "pirate" beacon operating on a non-ham frequency is non-miff-inducing as opposed to one operating in the ham band? LOL
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Michael Hopkins would be proud:
https://chainsawprivacy.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/frank_and_the_fmla.pdf
(surely where Bill Meara got the Colorburst reference from. Mike Hopkins was great)
I've been an active ham for fifty three years. There's stuff happening on the bands that distresses me. This is not one of them.
This falls into the same category as the WSPR tranmitting pico balloons which routinely fly around the world with no control operator sending telemetry and an ID .... it's kind of a victimless crime. There's no way this signal is going to cause a serious headache for anyone.
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...................I must admit to being equal parts intrigued by this beacon, and miffed at the fact that it is operating in an amateur band. I'm both a licensed ham and a CW op, so I am not very happy about this beacon being where it is.
From the Forum's mission statement "We do not encourage any radio operations contrary to regulations. Always consult with the appropriate authorities if you have questions concerning what is permissible in your locale."
Having said that I have a question:
How is it that a "pirate" beacon operating on a non-ham frequency is non-miff-inducing as opposed to one operating in the ham band? LOL
Well, I'm a licensed ham, and an avid QRP'er. 3579KHz is a frequency of interest to some QRP'ers, due to the abundance of cheap crystals available for that frequency, so I would have thought that the reason for the "miff" factor is obvious! Although the unlicensed beacons outside the ham bands don't irk me in the same way, I have always wondered something about them, and that is whether the operators of such beacons go to any effort to attempt to ensure they are not operating on or near any frequencies of critical interest or importance to other, legitimate users of the spectrum.
For the record, I do enjoy listening out for these beacons, but have never seriously considered operating one of my own mainly because, as a licensed ham, there are ample opportunities for me to get my "RF-emitting jollies" by legal means.
Michael Hopkins would be proud:
https://chainsawprivacy.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/frank_and_the_fmla.pdf
(surely where Bill Meara got the Colorburst reference from. Mike Hopkins was great)
I've been an active ham for fifty three years. There's stuff happening on the bands that distresses me. This is not one of them.
This falls into the same category as the WSPR tranmitting pico balloons which routinely fly around the world with no control operator sending telemetry and an ID .... it's kind of a victimless crime. There's no way this signal is going to cause a serious headache for anyone.
I wasn't aware of Mike's writings about the Five Meter Liberation Army. This is great! I must read this soon. As you say, it is almost certainly where Bill got the idea for the CBLA from. I recently became enthused about the use of 3579 for QRP CW operations, and was a bit dismayed to find a beacon on the very same frequency I wanted to operate on. However, as CW bandwidths are so narrow, it's possible to use a nearby frequency with no QRM experienced from the beacon. This is something I will be able to get over quite easily, and it's certainly not keeping me up at night. Nevertheless, I'd prefer that they stay out of the ham bands, even though that seems inconsistent with my enjoyment of listening to the beacons that are operating in other people's bands.
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Technically speaking, the actual TV Colorburst crystals are cut for 3,579,545.454545…. Hz which is 545 Hz higher than what is being bandied about. If a ham’s QRP transmitter was built to load the crystal correctly the ham’s operations would be 545 Hz higher than KOK. Perhaps narrow enough receive filters would knock KOK’s signal far enough down?
Maybe KOK is also QRP and was built to operate lower than the reserved frequency of the CLA?
🤓🤓
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Bill Meara and I were both members of the Glowbugs and Boatanchors email lists back in the 90's as was Michael Hopkins. I know Bill modeled his stories from those of AB5L.
Mr Hopkins was quite a gifted writer and a fun person to share the email world with in that niche part of the hobby!
I'm glad you enjoyed the stories! I have re-read them several times.
" I'd prefer that they stay out of the ham bands, even though that seems inconsistent with my enjoyment of listening to the beacons that are operating in other people's bands."
That made me laugh..good point! :-)