HFU HF Underground

Loggings => HF Beacons => Topic started by: syfr on November 30, 2009, 2055 UTC

Title: First beacon logs
Post by: syfr on November 30, 2009, 2055 UTC

My first beacon logs... fun stuff.


Hearing CO on 11002.7 20:43 utc. Some QSB but quite  copyable.

Logged Blinky last night on ~5157 with steady easy copy.


Location in North Carolina. Rx is JRC NRD525 , and antenna is a 160/80/40 sloper with feedpoint at 40' .

Im going to enjoy this kind of listening.

Any ideas of the power level of CO?

John

Title: Re: First beacon logs
Post by: weaksigs on November 30, 2009, 2136 UTC

 ;D  :D
Good logging John!
Way to go!
weaksigs

Title: Re: First beacon logs
Post by: Seamus on November 30, 2009, 2157 UTC

Hey, good to see you.

I'm in upstate South Carolina, and just getting rolling in these low-power beacons, myself.
Radio here is an Icom IC-718, with a 400-foot longwire antenna up about 40 feet in the trees.  My wire has a pretty well-pronounced north-south pattern to it, so I get Blinky quite well much of the time.  CO makes the trip out this way pretty well; you'll want to keep an ear on that one, as it carries messages from time to time.

Many of these low-power beacons push around 200 milliwatts, though the exact output often depends on the construction, transistor choice, and how sunny it happens to be at their location that day, as many of them are solar powered.

Here in the upstate area, I have often heard OK, MO, Blinky, Pike 78, and CO.  I've heard others on and off, depending largely on propagation and weather, both here and at the TX sites.  There are some interesting-sounding ones out there in the desert - temperature and wind-reporting beacons etc., but I haven't yet been able to catch any of them, likely due to a combination of geography, skip distance, and my wire's directionality.  I keep trying though; I know it's just a matter of time before everything lines up just right and one of them comes crawling out of the static to me.

Most of the active beacons are located in the western US, with relatively few here on the east coast, though I have heard some rumors that there are people working on addressing that issue.

Good to meet you - I'm looking forward to reading your logs, and seeing which ones you can catch that I haven't yet.

Title: Re: First beacon logs
Post by: syfr on November 30, 2009, 2240 UTC

Thanks for the info.... I'll look forward to comparing loggings with you. We're probably not more than a couple hundred miles away.  I'm really going to enjoy listening for these, as it represents quite a challenge.

I always seem to do thing backwards...about 15 years ago I was heavily into listening for HF pirate stations , when I lived out west. At that time most of the stations were back east, so it was quite a challenge logging them.  Now that beacon SWLing intrigues me, the transmitters seem to be in the SW...where I came from.  I came into the world backwards and it's been the same thing ever since. :-)

John

Title: Re: First beacon logs
Post by: beaconman on December 01, 2009, 0225 UTC

200-300Mw

Title: Re: First beacon logs
Post by: cmradio on December 01, 2009, 0811 UTC

Congrats! ;D

Addicting, ain't it ;)

Peace!

Title: Re: First beacon logs
Post by: cwguy on December 01, 2009, 1553 UTC

Be sure to listen for the 8 mhz beacons - there are a few in Colorado, one in western Canada, one or more in the SW desert also...

The beacon ops all look forward to reports out east (especially if the beacons are out west)

Welcome!

Title: Re: First beacon logs
Post by: syfr on December 03, 2009, 0124 UTC

I'll certainly be listening. No luck on the 8Mhz family of beacons yet, but I'll stay at it.

Thanks for the welcome. I'm a CW guy too  !   8)