HFU HF Underground
Loggings => HF Beacons => Topic started by: ChrisSmolinski on January 30, 2019, 1048 UTC
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I was listening to Windy for a few minutes with a nice signal (band conditions seem to be good this morning, stable signals and low noise), and it started to key down for several seconds at a time. It would then start to send normally again for a few seconds, and revert to the key down.
I wasn't able to catch the battery voltage while it was sending OK, perhaps it is too low? Actually, I think it is keying down during the period when the wind dits should be sent.
Seems back to normal at 1145, although no wind dits.
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I imagine the anenometer is simply making and breaking a switch contact for each rotation and the micro controller turns those into dits. As a baseline for wind indication we have heard lots of dits sent when there is a good breeze with variable spacing between dits indicating higher or lower speeds. Shortest spacing for higher wind speed.
The other possible states are:
No wind no dits
Very high wind causing one long tone instead of dits (I've heard this)
Possibly a long tone because the anenometer switch is staying closed
One other possibility for the long tones is a maintenance indicator about the battery or some other parameter.
Based on battery voltage swings I think the battery is going bad and the long tones could be a malfunction due to a large battery voltage sag when the transmitter keys.
Thoughts?
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Windy has been logged with the long dash, it happens a lot when there is very slow wind, then the wind stops so the anemometer stops in the middle of making a wind dit, which keeps it keyed.
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That makes perfect sense, thanks for the explanation.