HFU HF Underground
Loggings => HF Beacons => Topic started by: ChrisSmolinski on May 26, 2017, 1600 UTC
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Please use this thread for chat about the beacon list.
I've made several changes to the list. Please let me know if there's any beacons I have missed.
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I've made several changes to the list. Please let me know if there's any beacons I have missed.
to me the numbers for B seemed to be Battery voltage, but I could be wrong ;D
4102.74 Windy sends W followed by dits for the wind speed, every so often it sends TMP and the temperature, then B and the barometric pressure.
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Yes, that does make more sense!
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I've made several changes to the list. Please let me know if there's any beacons I have missed.
5644 KHz Y & 2 sec DASH
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Common and Precious III 26510 kHz 26.510 MHz CW 11 meter beacon is apparently off the air per the owner's reports
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4098.3 ZN, repetition 4.4 seconds, drift to ~4103 kHz daytime
4100.05 H, repetition 3 seconds
8200.15 D, repetition 3 seconds
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HI Chris and all,
Some updates 30 October 2018. I know that the two 2.0x night-only dit beacons shown on the main list are not on air anymore. I know the gent whom put em in...
"Y" 5644 was only temp. It is off air -- just a test for a spell of time. The xmtr is re-crystalled on 6283 and is AM music (maybe 600-700 mW PEP AM mode for desert hiking...
New Super MedFER:
A "Tribute to INE" super-medFR is in 521.48 kHz and hrd. in 5 states so-far, incl. TX, since 2015. It is dusk to dawn presently - 1500 mA ant. current. 33-35 watts input to an IRF-540N MosFET p.a. (class - E- switching -- highly efficient and cool running - series tuned so if the ant./loading-coil variometer is out of tune, p.a. current (DC) drops too).
It will go this DX season dusk to dawn sans outages for listening. - MF is wonderful nowadays with exc. solar-minimum, long-haul DX reception, with Asian MW stations in well by 1200 UT (good audio 774, 972, 828, 1566, lotsa hets elsewhere)... Since we miss INE as many's first hrd. NDB, "R" with a 5.1 second ident cycle, like an NDB, runs in the absence of 521 INE-MT now QRT. It is also a **tribute** to the big, longtime "A" beacon of which I have met the op. and thee description of "A" 2097.3 is way cool. Now a lower-MF one to try for... the (CW) A1A mode-ERP is way-less than "A" be aware, as it is just a 23 ft. vert. with cap. umbrella and minimal ground radials/screening... 73-MB
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2 suggestions about the listing of the "Rocky" beacon at 6626.4 kHz.
- 1. Rocky beacon might better be described as an "AM variable tone beacon" rather than a "buzzer beacon".
- 2. The observed average center frequency of Rocky this year has been 6626.4 kHz, rather than 6626.2 kHz.
It appears that the transmitted tone modulation frequency is possibly related to temperature.
The hotter, the lower pitched the audio tone.
The colder, the higher pitched the audio tone.
When observed on a hot day in August, the frequency was 56 Hz (https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,45394.msg166280.html#msg166280), and it indeed sounded like a buzzer due to the lower pitch of the audio tone.
However, when observed during colder days in November (https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,45394.msg174233.html#msg174233), the audio tone modulation frequency was running between about 700 Hz ~ 1000 Hz, and it didn't sound at all like a buzzer, but more like a triangle wave or square wave oscillator, listen:
PLAY AUDIO 6626kHz Rocky AM tone beacon 2018NOV 2324UTC (http://hfpack.com/members/exo/6626kHz_Rocky_AM_beacon_2018NOV_2324UTC.mp3)
We wonder whether the suspected temperature tone variability is intentional?
If indeed the temperature vs tone frequency is an intentional feature of this beacon, then this beacon might be described as an
Amplitude Modulated tone temperature telemetry beacon
Isn't that fascinating? :)
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Anyone know if the Inyo beacons are still on after the wildfire that's been going the past week?
https://twitter.com/Inyo_NF/status/1173409206243774464 (https://twitter.com/Inyo_NF/status/1173409206243774464)
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Hi KandiKlover,
I was on highway 395 yesterday and drove by the Taboose fire. I don't think it is a threat to any hobby beacons I know of in the overall area.
I think there was only ever one beacon (Inyo Whooper) in the Inyo Mountains but it has been off the air for a long time and I am told it won't be back. Maps of the Inyo National Forest show it has ranges on both sides of the 395 so there are lots of places to hide a beacon. :-)
The beacon called Haystack on 4096.370 KHz is a good indicator of propagation from the high desert and mountains in that region. I can hear it right now.
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Could this be the Inyo Whooper? An imposter maybe? Listening to the Northern Utah SDR this morning 1445Z I see and hear a dasher on 4097.2 KHz. Seems to be a bit faster than one dash/sec. Some fading but overall a pretty good signal into that receiver.
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Could this be the Inyo Whooper? An imposter maybe? Listening to the Northern Utah SDR this morning 1445Z I see and hear a dasher on 4097.2 KHz. Seems to be a bit faster than one dash/sec. Some fading but overall a pretty good signal into that receiver.
Here is what the Inyo Whooper used to sound like before it was taken off the air
https://youtu.be/kbu3I75oit4?t=70
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Thank you Chris for the list,quite interesting seeing them all!!
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updates for the list
Change Rocky to 6626.4 KHz
Off the air:
4095.9 "Viking" stated as being removed by McGreevy
4096.0 "Coxie" removed as far as I know
4096.35 Haystack stated as being removed by McGreevy
Update Windy's freq to 4102.83KHz
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Former Viking re-installed as "Phallaxy" (due to the shape of the cool granite rocks nearby...). I think you guys have the other updates fine.. MB
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Chris/Jim/others: I am hearing - since about a week now but it is not one I know anything about **honest** save for it is a weak daytimer and so closer than Coxie and is similar strength as Coxie. Sends "R" in a slow ident with a short space. It's on ~4096.2 approx. I've been monitoring it as well as the Phallaxy Beacon (etc.). NOT anything Iknow but THANKS to the op!
Ident not similar to the 5.1 sec. cycle 521.48 "R" beacon in the desert with reportedly 60w input... but 2-3 w ERP... hmmm...
Coxie often begins with a chirp. Phallaxy has none... both remain daytime only. Coxie is easily 10-15 dB stronger than Phallaxy here...
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Could this be the Inyo Whooper? An imposter maybe? Listening to the Northern Utah SDR this morning 1445Z I see and hear a dasher on 4097.2 KHz. Seems to be a bit faster than one dash/sec. Some fading but overall a pretty good signal into that receiver.
Alledgedly is is the "Inyo Whooper" back safe in it's shop where it was built back in 2007 just put on as a test... me thinks... MB
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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...
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2 suggestions about the listing of the "Rocky" beacon at 6626.4 kHz.
- 1. Rocky beacon might better be described as an "AM variable tone beacon" rather than a "buzzer beacon".
- 2. The observed average center frequency of Rocky this year has been 6626.4 kHz, rather than 6626.2 kHz.
It appears that the transmitted tone modulation frequency is possibly related to temperature.
The hotter, the lower pitched the audio tone.
The colder, the higher pitched the audio tone.
When observed on a hot day in August, the frequency was 56 Hz (https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,45394.msg166280.html#msg166280), and it indeed sounded like a buzzer due to the lower pitch of the audio tone.
However, when observed during colder days in November (https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,45394.msg174233.html#msg174233), the audio tone modulation frequency was running between about 700 Hz ~ 1000 Hz, and it didn't sound at all like a buzzer, but more like a triangle wave or square wave oscillator, listen:
PLAY AUDIO 6626kHz Rocky AM tone beacon 2018NOV 2324UTC (http://hfpack.com/members/exo/6626kHz_Rocky_AM_beacon_2018NOV_2324UTC.mp3)
We wonder whether the suspected temperature tone variability is intentional?
If indeed the temperature vs tone frequency is an intentional feature of this beacon, then this beacon might be described as an
Amplitude Modulated tone temperature telemetry beacon
Isn't that fascinating? :)
AMAZINGLY IT WAS A CRAPPY OLD 70s (oops caps lok) radio-shack kit-cannabilized cap. 10 uF in the RC keying ckt. that failed!! Just a malfunctioning cap! It led to this phenomenon! Now the Rocky beacon has a new 22 uF Sprauge 2020 version - ... alledgedly... MB
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And a final note for today to update it all here is that Coxie (~4096.0) is still as-is and will be left alone. It's cool and old now (19 yrs.) and day-only with a big start-up chirp but has good ERP but less than The Wind Beacon.
SO the above 5 or so posting should fill in the blanks and corrections for all, I think, allegedly. I guess or assume. I suppose and conjecture on all of this ...
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Yes one other last thing I believe maybe perhaps allegedly - when ROCKY-had-a-bad-buzz was visited in March, it's solar-panel wires were almost DOA due to nibblers - maybe a few month's time left and it would be gone if too far to get to... so it came back to someplace to be fixed and put on a fence... :-)
Thanks for allof the total fun listening dudes and dudesses. watch out for the big bad spiky bug king...
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~4096.0 "Coxie" in JTNP still loud and clear still here by early morning past Sunrise and by 1700PT also, and it will go for as long as it can. Oh, would you know another replacement of the former "Haystack" beacon on 4096.35 is planned and should be audible back/down-east if a site with a good eastward low-angle signal launch point can be located... 73 MB
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>it's solar-panel wires were almost DOA due to nibblers - maybe a few month's time left and it would be gone if too far to get to... so it came back to someplace to be fixed and put on a fence... :-)
Hi, i made two qrp beacons, first CW only on 27.145 70mw, second speaking their coordinates and power in fm 27.200 and then send rtty, 500 mw tx with 2w solar panel. Both now placed in the forest on trees, in russia, near St.Petersburg.
Both transmitters with their controllers (arduino with cw/rtty/melody/speaking sketch) glued with epoxy resin directly to solar panel.
Today, after reading some posts here i buy 20 4,5w solar elemets, resin, some 8w 250mhz transistors and bunch of quartz generators and resonators.
Now i thinking about wire for antennas, i think stainless steel wire rope for gardens the best choise.
And why beacons here used 4096 khz freq?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyRJJnI8Hxg&
Picture of first CW 70mWt beacon. https://sun9-50.userapi.com/c853528/v853528174/9948d/suWjbP_ICJ4.jpg
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Hi, i made two qrp beacons, first CW only on 27.145 70mw, second speaking their coordinates and power in fm 27.200 and then send rtty, 500 mw tx with 2w solar panel. Both now placed in the forest on trees, in Russia, near St.Petersburg.
Both transmitters with their controllers (arduino with cw/rtty/melody/speaking sketch) glued with epoxy resin directly to solar panel.
Today, after reading some posts here i buy 20 4,5w solar elements, resin, some 8w 250mhz transistors and bunch of quartz generators and resonators.
Now i thinking about wire for antennas, i think stainless steel wire rope for gardens the best choice.
And why beacons here used 4096 khz freq?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyRJJnI8Hxg&
Picture of first CW 70mWt beacon. https://sun9-50.userapi.com/c853528/v853528174/9948d/suWjbP_ICJ4.jpg
greetings to you Quinta!
Thanks for sharing the picture and the video. The Arduino programming audio is very interesting. I am really slow at learning to program my Arduino.
Lots of beacons have landed on 4.096 MHz because the crystals are cheap and readily available (even on Amazon)
The reason they are so available is because they are used as a stable reference frequency that can be easily divided to various other clock signals used by microprocessors in TVs, cordless phones, computers and so on.
1 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256 512 1024 2048 4096
4096 – power of two 2*12; 64*2; 16th cube; smallest number with exactly 13 divisors; a superperfect number
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>Thanks for sharing the picture and the video. The Arduino programming audio is very interesting. I am really slow at learning to program my Arduino.
Its simple actually, here https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,68726.0.html sketch which measure and speak temperature, battery voltage and output transmitter power, and instructiosn how to record own words for this synthesyzer. There can be mistakes in measuring section, but at least temperature measured and speakes correctly.
But this is too simple, this guy sends with arduino sstv images from ccd cam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdQBwArdG34
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Please use this thread for chat about the beacon list.
I've made several changes to the list. Please let me know if there's any beacons I have missed.
Thanks for all of the updates Chris!
All who are interested should review the list and provide updates for Chris
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Should we pencil in the 4097.2 Dasher (possibly the former Inyo Whooper) and the new 4095.7 Desert Whooper beacons into the master list?
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Also the line about Windy
4102.74 Windy sends W followed by dits for the wind speed, every so often it sends TMP and the temperature, then B and the battery voltage.
Could be changed to
4102.74 Operating intermittently. When it is functioning properly, Windy sends W followed by dits for the wind speed. Every so often it sends TMP and the temperature, then B and the battery voltage. When the battery voltage is low (below 11.3v ?) it will send "H" and as the voltage trends lower it will send "S"
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Should we pencil in the 4097.2 Dasher (possibly the former Inyo Whooper) and the new 4095.7 Desert Whooper beacons into the master list?
Guesses on my part for both of them as of early January 2021.
4097.2x has been active since at least early November with no real changes noted since then, so it appears to be here to stay. I don't think that is related to the old Inyo Whooper though, it does appear to be related to 7997.2 kHz. The two dashers appear in sync. Both of them have some interesting propagation to me on my local receivers, at times they boom in, but most of the time they are not detectable. Typically when I can hear one I cannot hear the other, but I suspect that is propagation, as occasionally I do hear them both at the same time.
The Desert Whooper also appears to be hanging in there. But since it is still changing a little I suspect we are not seeing it in its final version / location yet.
My vote would be that both need to be on the lsit.
T!
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Should we pencil in the 4097.2 Dasher (possibly the former Inyo Whooper) and the new 4095.7 Desert Whooper beacons into the master list?
Guesses on my part for both of them as of early January 2021.
4097.2x has been active since at least early November with no real changes noted since then, so it appears to be here to stay. I don't think that is related to the old Inyo Whooper though, it does appear to be related to 7997.2 kHz. The two dashers appear in sync. Both of them have some interesting propagation to me on my local receivers, at times they boom in, but most of the time they are not detectable. Typically when I can hear one I cannot hear the other, but I suspect that is propagation, as occasionally I do hear them both at the same time.
The Desert Whooper also appears to be hanging in there. But since it is still changing a little I suspect we are not seeing it in its final version / location yet.
My vote would be that both need to be on the list.
T!
Hello!
They were both added to the list on Dec. 18th 8)
I just updated both listings. I like your note about 4097.2 and 7997.2 being in sync so I added that in as well as added 7997.2 to the list
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Is it worth moving some of the beacons which have been SK for some time now to the bottom of the list, to reduce clutter? I am thinking of GT, ZF and others, maybe even the beloved A.
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Is it worth moving some of the beacons which have been SK for some time now to the bottom of the list, to reduce clutter? I am thinking of GT, ZF and others, maybe even the beloved A.
I was thinking the same thing. Start 2020 with a clean list
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First pass has been completed. I'll bet there are a lot more that have not been heard in a while such as these
7000.0 "Itchy" Ditter, 0.21 seconds long, sent every 1.39 seconds.
7000.65 "Stumpy" Ditter, about 0.17 seconds long, sent every 22 seconds.
7039.4 "T" beacon OK0EPB sends a marker each second, a longer one at the minute, and callsign.
7998.3 "Shorty" sends 18 dashes starting every minute.
8009.7 "Hiker", Dit rate is 100 per min.
13562.90 kHz "RR-dash" beacon is located in the northern Mojave Desert of Calif. with approx. 10 mW to an inverted-L antenna.
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First pass has been completed. I'll bet there are a lot more that have not been heard in a while such as these
7000.0 "Itchy" Ditter, 0.21 seconds long, sent every 1.39 seconds.
7000.65 "Stumpy" Ditter, about 0.17 seconds long, sent every 22 seconds.
7039.4 "T" beacon OK0EPB sends a marker each second, a longer one at the minute, and callsign.
7998.3 "Shorty" sends 18 dashes starting every minute.
8009.7 "Hiker", Dit rate is 100 per min.
13562.90 kHz "RR-dash" beacon is located in the northern Mojave Desert of Calif. with approx. 10 mW to an inverted-L antenna.
Yeah, 7000.0 kHz Itchy appears long gone. When it was active I could receive it anytime I looked for it, I have not seen it in a couple of years.
I strongly suspect both 2008.4 kHz dasher and 2018.3 kHz dasher are also gone, when they were active I could normally see them any morning, pre local dawn, if I went looking for them. That was for a couple of years, but it has been a long time since I saw them, and I have been looking. So I am pretty sure they are gone.
T!
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Thanks Token! I was hoping you'd reply since you have a great listening setup and years of experience. I've made the suggested changes.
Let's keep looking at the list to see what else might be off the air.
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If the list of the off-the-air beacons becomes much bigger I was thinking about splitting it into a separate post to help avoid confusion to newcomers looking for a hit list of currently active beacons.
Let me know what you think.
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If the list of the off-the-air beacons becomes much bigger I was thinking about splitting it into a separate post to help avoid confusion to newcomers looking for a hit list of currently active beacons.
Let me know what you think.
I think this is a good idea. Call them Historical Beacons or something similar?
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I split the two lists. The second message is titled "Currently Inactive Beacons" since some of them have been resurrected for our listening pleasure. 8)
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Master List updated today:
4095 Desert Whooper
4097 Dasher
4097 Ditter
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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...
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I've made some updates to the the active beacons list. Please take a look and see if there are other beacons that are not active anymore.
Does anyone know if Common and Precious is active? Any related posts about it seem pretty old.
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Does anyone know if Common and Precious is active? Any related posts about it seem pretty old.
The last I heard, one or more of the Common and Precious beacons were off the air due to damage, and this was as you noted quite some time ago.
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Does anyone know if Common and Precious is active? Any related posts about it seem pretty old.
The last I heard, one or more of the Common and Precious beacons were off the air due to damage, and this was as you noted quite some time ago.
Thanks! I will update the beacon lists today
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I updated the active list with the frequency of 4096.12 for the newly stronger signal "L" beacon
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In the news I can neither confirm nor deny, allegedly:
~6627.0 kHz "Gendarme" - a whooping/'siren' beacon quick-falling in-freq. whooper/chirper beacon - deliberately the result via a 100 uF cap. on the voltage rail from the 2w panel and the freq. falls during cap. discharges on key-on. 50% duty-cycle/0.5 watts. OTA 10th May 2021 - 10.45 PDT. Somewhere in the southern Great Basin... sun-only/formerly 'Rocky' - named by a cool artist lady whom heard the thing and named it...
Big. S7 sigs on the KiwiSDR (KFS-SE) Half Moon Bay, CA at 14.30 PDT today... stronger than 6700.5 HexY2K.
Tnx. Jim/Chris for this HFU fun and the great bcn. lists... 73 de MB
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In the news I can neither confirm nor deny, allegedly:
~6627.0 kHz "Gendarme" - a whooping/'siren' beacon quick-falling in-freq. whooper/chirper beacon - deliberately the result via a 100 uF cap. on the voltage rail from the 2w panel and the freq. falls during cap. discharges on key-on. 50% duty-cycle/0.5 watts. OTA 10th May 2021 - 10.45 PDT. Somewhere in the southern Great Basin... sun-only/formerly 'Rocky' - named by a cool artist lady whom heard the thing and named it...
Big. S7 sigs on the KiwiSDR (KFS-SE) Half Moon Bay, CA at 14.30 PDT today... stronger than 6700.5 HexY2K.
Tnx. Jim/Chris for this HFU fun and the great bcn. lists... 73 de MB
Thanks for the updates MB. I've updated the on-air/off-air lists
I'll post up if I can hear Gendarme at home today
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The active beacons list in the sticky has gotten some updates to include the latest beacons and other changes
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The active beacons list in the sticky has had the Archer and Popup beacons added to the list.
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Beacon lists updated today
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Hi Chris
Should the HF beacon list on the Wiki be updated?
https://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/High_Frequency_Beacon
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Hi Chris
Should the HF beacon list on the Wiki be updated?
https://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/High_Frequency_Beacon
Absolutely. The Wiki login is the same as here on the message board. Anyone can edit the Wiki.
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Absolutely. The Wiki login is the same as here on the message board. Anyone can edit the Wiki.
I just played with the editing a little bit. I will start by deleting known inactive beacons or beacon listings that are very old and no longer logged on the forum.
I'd also like to separate the foreign beacons from the North American beacons although I suspect all of the foreign beacons could be deleted.
Thoughts?
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Absolutely. The Wiki login is the same as here on the message board. Anyone can edit the Wiki.
I just played with the editing a little bit. I will start by deleting known inactive beacons or beacon listings that are very old and no longer logged on the forum.
I'd also like to separate the foreign beacons from the North American beacons although I suspect all of the foreign beacons could be deleted.
Thoughts?
I think that's a great idea, also because it will make it easier for folks to use the list to find beacons they actually have a chance of hearing :)
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I completed the first cut at separating the two groups and it looks okay. It is nice that the "Contents" table self populates.
https://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/index.php/High_Frequency_Beacon#North_American_High_Frequency_Beacons
Everyone, please take a look and watch for any goofs I may introduce or for improvements you could suggest.
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The west coast's station KPH kiwis are back on line!
https://www.radiomarine.org/kph-sdrs
KPH SDR Receivers
The Kiwi SDR receivers at the KPH receive site at Point Reyes are back on line!
More than a year ago the SDRs dropped off line due to a failure of our Internet connection. But due to COVID-19 restrictions we were unable to access the receive site to bring the system back on line. Now with the help of highly skilled MRHS volunteers we have been able to bring the system back to life.
There are a total of seven GPS disciplined Kiwi receivers available. One receiver is connected to the Marconi T antenna and is dedicated to LF/MF reception. Six receivers are connected to the TCI-530 antenna for 3 to 30MHz reception.
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I was hoping to see them back on the air but it was time to move the Archer and Popup beacons onto the inactive list. I hope they will be back on the air very soon but I've not heard anything.
For the active list I added in 8191.9 as the second harmonic of Coxie (4095.9)
Let me know if there are additional updates for the lists.
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Lists updated to show the "A" beacon is back on the 2097.3 KHz frequency
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Minor updates to the on-the-air list
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I added 4095.15 MudDuck to the active list. Updated DW's frequency and moved the 6666.8 "L" beacon to the inactive list. I've not heard it in years.
6668.0 "L" beacon, about 9.3 secs apart, or 6.5 times / min, hearing extra leading dit
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Added in 4109.5, formerly known as "Popup Beacon", relocated and renamed as the "Central Coast Slider"
4109.50 "Central Coast Slider" slow whooping beacon, coastal mountains of central CA, 335mW, EFHW antenna, solar/battery power
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Just added in beacon "L" on 4095.03
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Both the Active & Inactive lists are updated. I moved Windy to inactive but hope it comes back soon.
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Since Windy has not been heard since December, 2021 I went ahead and tidied up the Beacons No Longer In Operation blurb.
https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,9478.msg252777.html#msg252777
I think Windy was on the air before 2009 but I don't have a firm date. If it truly was built by Edson Hendricks then someone else maintained it for a while but maybe gave up in December 2021. Hendricks died in August 2020 so any source code or schematics may be lost forever....
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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.
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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.
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If anyone wants a portable to listen to beacons, I'd recommend the Sangean 909. They do a heck of a job in pulling in weak CW with their narrow bandwidth. Plus, they'll handle a lot of wire without overloading.
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If anyone wants a portable to listen to beacons, I'd recommend the Sangean 909. They do a heck of a job in pulling in weak CW with their narrow bandwidth. Plus, they'll handle a lot of wire without overloading.
Thanks for the pointer!! I see a button for “SSB”. How does one get it into CW mode?
https://www.amazon.com/SANGEAN-Ultimate-Multi-Band-Radio-ATS-909X2/dp/B08MSXX6LH/ref=asc_df_B08MSXX6LH/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=475810000983&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14507048853880206025&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1013962&hvtargid=pla-1215320111644&th=1
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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!
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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!
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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.
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If anyone wants a portable to listen to beacons, I'd recommend the Sangean 909. They do a heck of a job in pulling in weak CW with their narrow bandwidth. Plus, they'll handle a lot of wire without overloading.
Thanks for the pointer!! I see a button for “SSB”. How does one get it into CW mode?
https://www.amazon.com/SANGEAN-Ultimate-Multi-Band-Radio-ATS-909X2/dp/B08MSXX6LH/ref=asc_df_B08MSXX6LH/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=475810000983&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14507048853880206025&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1013962&hvtargid=pla-1215320111644&th=1
When the 909 is set to SSB it's tuning rate is 40 hz., set it to the narrow audio bandwidth and there you go.
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added in 4096.15 send L every 7 seconds. Strong in SoCal. Maybe it's the L beacon from 4095 that showed up a year ago February and went away?
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I added in the new SFI beacon that Mark-n-nut caught on 4094.8 KHz. It sends SFI twice in slow Morse then 8 dashes
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Hopefully, this is the right place for this.
Listening between 0200 and 0430Z this date, on 5198 kHz.
Earlier CW "XKO". Checked back just now, receiving "RST".
Repeats roughly 5 seconds. ~10 wpm.
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Hopefully, this is the right place for this.
Listening between 0200 and 0430Z this date, on 5198 kHz.
Earlier CW "XKO". Checked back just now, receiving "RST".
Repeats roughly 5 seconds. ~10 wpm.
Hello and welcome to HFU!
This area of HFU is dedicated to "pirate" radio beacons and what you've found might be commercial, government or military.. I did a few quick searches and one came back as
5198 Canadian Forces Maritime Command Network Worldwide but I have not found much on CKO but what you described sounds a little like a RTTY station. I'll let a radio sit for a little while on the frequency. I won't move this post until I can see what a better place might be.
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updated the list with
4069.43 KHz Dasher with a strong second harmonic at 8138.86 and it's night time only 3/10/2024
and
8138.86 KHz Dasher with a primary signal at 4069.43 and it's night time only 3/10/2024
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Since the 3579 beacon KOK seems to be stable I added it to the list at https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,9478.msg27047.html#msg27047