HFU HF Underground
Loggings => HF Beacons => Topic started by: Teotwaki on December 10, 2020, 1607 UTC
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Second day I've seen this one on the KFS Kiwi SDRs. Suspect this dasher is solar powered as I saw it suddenly start transmitting about 5 minutes ago with a bit of instability before settling down.
4097.22 Dasher 2 sec on 2 sec off
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I would assume that is this one ( https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,74397.msg247748.html#msg247748 ). I have seen that dasher at night though, so I do not think it is solar powered.
T!
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I would assume that is this one ( https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,74397.msg247748.html#msg247748 ). I have seen that dasher at night though, so I do not think it is solar powered.
T!
Maybe it is malfunctioning? I was literally watching a swath of spectrum on KFS when the signal popped up full strength and the signal drifted down in frequency over a few dashes before settling down.
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Here is the video I did of that one a couple weeks ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvp8x96CkdU
T!
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Just had light copy on the Sedona Kiwi. @ 23:15
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I had completely forgotten about the Chat Thread for the updates to the master beacon list. The following message explains why the dasher popped up.
What happened to the 'Inyo Whooper' (a daytimer) was that its solar-panel partially-failed and was putting out only 4 volts intermittently. The antenna was trashed by winds and nibblers after 10 years - kinda flimsy wire anyway - never thought it would last so long..., so it kinda was NG and so the thing had to go home, alledgedly... me thinks... it can be put on from its home... someplace ... still 4097.2 but i believe its keying cap was changed a tad...
Not so much a new or malfunctioning beacon but it's the old Inyo Whooper being played with by Mcgreevey
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Sorry, I am easily confused. Is the 4097.2 the old Inyo Whooper? Or rather do you mean the new DW is the old Whooper?
T!
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Sorry, I am easily confused. Is the 4097.2 the old Inyo Whooper? Or rather do you mean the new DW is the old Whooper?
T!
LOL, you got a couple of beacon threads intertwined so an A+ for inventiveness! ;D
So from the beacon list chat thread here: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,68701.msg250477.html#new
I quoted McGreevy a.k.a. "Mojave Beaconeer" saying that he took the old 4097.2 KHz Inyo Whooper down because it was in poor condition. Then he changed some capacitor that was bad and (hint-hint-hint he's saying) he might be putting it back on the air on the same frequency of 4097.2 (hint-hint-hint he's saying).
Apparently the "whoop" sound of it was not a design feature but instead a cheap part failed. Quote:
"Amazingly it was a crappy old 70s radio-shack kit-cannibilized cap 10 uF in the RC keying ckt that failed!! Just a malfunctioning cap! It led to this phenomenon! "
The Desert Whooper is on a different frequency and DW definitely has the appearance of the whoop being designed in as well as having a CW ID and telemetry.
Did that work? Many times I think I am being clear but find out I failed, sigh.
PS: Maybe it's not the old Inyo Whooper because McGreevy/Mojave Beaconeer claimed he was quitting it all in this message:
https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,74278.0.html
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Sounding strong on the omni Kiwi tonight. Nice signal (23:20 Z)
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very strong on the SDR. Freq at 4097.27
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Name suggestions:
Not The Whooper!
(https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FT4UOWIv346pd6%2Fgiphy.gif&f=1&nofb=1)
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I am thinking the name should probably be able to tie the 4097.2 and the 7997.2 together if it turns out they are actually related. If I ever get them simultaneously at a good enough signal strength I will try to do a video that shows the relationship / sync of the two. I am sure they are in sync. Unfortunately I typically see only one at a time, and when I do see both either one or both are so weak that it does not make for a good video.
T!
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I am thinking the name should probably be able to tie the 4097.2 and the 7997.2 together if it turns out they are actually related.
Excellent idea. Maybe we could use SDR channels/receivers at another location such as Half Moon Bay? If both signals are not consistent at your receive site we could try other sites to correlate the signals.
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Very good signal on the KFS Kiwi SE SDR
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4097.2 dasher just faded in weakly as I was watching the bandpass with 4094 and Windy. No sign of it on 7999.2 at this point but I have seen it there off and on. 01:18 UTC 10 JAN 2021
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4097.2 just showed up fading in and out. 01:21 UTC 14 JAN 2021
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I have the 7999.2 version of this dasher here, fading in and out. No sign off its twin on 4097.2 right now. Maybe that is a name "twin dashers"... that is.... unless there are more of them lurking out there tied to these two. 19:45 UTC 15 JAN 2021
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7992.2 very strong here on the longwire and Airspy HF+ Discovery, 4097.22 is also there but very weak right at the noise floor fading on the vertical and the Airspy HF+ (I run them at the same time on two different computers). They look the same signal wise comparing between either SDR or antenna. Right now what I am hearing and seeing is they are alternating, one keying when the other is off and vis versa. Could be just latency between the two SDRs and computers but it seems real consistent with no overlap between the two. 00:05 UTC 16 JAN 2021
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Interesting logs, Ron. I'll have to give a listen with some Kiwi's around 0000z tonight.
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Interesting logs, Ron. I'll have to give a listen with some Kiwi's around 0000z tonight.
Thanks, I will be interested in what you hear. This was the first time I could ever hear both of them at the same time. Got tied up this evening and didn't get to listen earlier. I have 4097.22 now weak and fading but there, no joy on 7992.2. 05:30 UTC 17 JAN 2021
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Well, could hear 4097 via KFS very strong here, but nothing at 799x. WiIll try again later though as there's some Peskies up there now.
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7999.2 fairly strong. No joy on 4097.22 right now. 20:58 UTC 22 JAN 2021
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4097.22 just fading in here, while also watching 7999.22 on the other SDR it faded up out of the noise and came up very strong. I can see both of them now and they are alternating the dashers one on when the other is off and vs versa. 01:00 UTC 28 JAN 2021
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Instead of the dasher I am hearing a strong, fast ditter on 4097.28
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I'm wondering if the creator of the dasher decided to make things more lively by changing from slow dashes to the fast dits? I am realy appreciating the revitalized 4 MHz beacon spectrum.
It's very strong right now in this capture from KFS
Left to right is the "evolved" Desert Whooper which is now about 3 months old. Next is the slow dasher that may have been the Inyo WHooper in the past and then to the right is the fast ditter at 4097.29-ish
(https://i.ibb.co/yP4PNcK/4-Meg-Party.jpg)
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I'm thinking this is a permanent change from slow dash to fast ditter.
It's again very strong right now in this capture from KFS, ditting away on the right of the picture.
Left to right is the "evolved" Desert Whooper which is sending telemetry. The five slow whoops are a good visual and audible cue. Next is the slow dasher with it's tell-tale hook/rise in frequency
(https://i.ibb.co/b59TFVv/Fast-Ditter.jpg)
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I note a slow dasher - rather weak most of the time - per above on about 4097.22 or .23; a very fast ditting beacon stronger on 4097.27 or so, and "Coxie" slow (OTA a very long-time now) dasher around 4095.9 and higher (it drifts); and the telemetry-whooper below all of the other noted beacons in its frequency. Note the telementery-whooper has the "opposite whoop" than the former Inyo Whooper (solar-only) did...
I don't note the slow dasher around 4097.22 or .23 on the KFS/SE receiver in listening over the past couple of days, however, but I heard it this morning very close to the fast-ditter around 1100 PT/19z though far weaker.
HexY2K ~6700.5 and ~6626.3 Rainy noted strong here at times mid-day, including today...
MB
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The slow dasher was originally very strong into the KFS kiwis so something changed/broke if a weak signal has been heard.
Note that the new-ish “DW” whooper not only has a whoop that’s opposite to the defunct whooper but the defunct whooper never had a Morse ID, four different Morse telemetry streams or run 24/7......
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I'm thinking this is a permanent change from slow dash to fast ditter.
It's again very strong right now in this capture from KFS, ditting away on the right of the picture.
These, the 2 second dasher and the fast ditter, do not appear to be the same signal. Instead it looks like the fast ditter has shown up on very clsoe to the same frequency as the dasher, and the ditter is typically the stronger signal.
Prior to today I thought that because the propagation of the fast ditter appears different from the 2 second dasher. The dasher was more condition impacted, I mean when conditions were very good (based on multiple signals) so was the dasher signal, but when conditions were very bad so was the dasher. I might go for days not seeing / hearing it, and then watch it slowly fade up as conditions got better.
The fast ditter has been more consistent in level, almost always being heard, day or night, at my location.
Also, I could sometimes null the ditter with a loop and start to hear what I thought was the dasher under it.
But today I am more sure. It looks like the dasher has shifted down in frequency, more near 4096.1 kHz, and as I type this I can hear both the dasher and the fast ditter. Also, it appear the 7997.2 dasher, possibly synchronized to the 4096.2 dasher, appears to have shifted down to about 7997.0.
T!
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Mr. Token :-)
Thanks for the wealth of details. I'll update our master beacon list!
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using the KFS SE kiwi I see
fast dasher at 4097.29 (strong)
slow dasher at 4097.08 (weak)
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using the KFS SE kiwi
I see the fast dasher is strong at 4097.29
Either we have more than one fast dasher with one also at 4097.1 or it's frequency is a bit unstable
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It's kind of a mini-whooper itself, though I suspect it comes by that via a weak DC rail rather than FSK! :-)
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It's kind of a mini-whooper itself, though I suspect it comes by that via a weak DC rail rather than FSK! :-)
Given the way it jumps around in frequency I'd agree that it is a defect
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using the KFS SE kiwi
I see the fast dasher is strong at 4097.29
Either we have more than one fast dasher with one also at 4097.1 or it's frequency is a bit unstable
I suspect one fast dasher, and it is drifty in freq.
This ditter appears to have a slight chirp (down) on each pulse. And the frequency drifts around, I have not watched it enough to find the limits or correlate time of day / temp / etc to the drift.
T!
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4097.25 Fast Dasher at S3 on KFS kiwi SE
4097.08 Slow Dasher, weak on KFS kiwi SE