Messages

1

HF Beacons / Re: Western beacons heard today

« on: February 06, 2025, 1851 UTC »

Hi Teo - yep, the 4069 dasher can be tough to catch since its nightime only and weak at the best of times.

I was pleased to hear HexY2K on 6700.5 -- according to the beacon list (pinned above) it's now
been going for 25 years (since Dec 1999)!

But it seems that a bunch of other western beacons may have gone off the air. Or maybe its just conditions?
'Gendarme' 6627.0 seems to be gone. And I don't hear any of the other members if 4096 'family' like Coxie, Phallaxy, and the Marin Ditter any more. Just DW and, a bit further up, CS.

2

HF Beacons / Western beacons heard today

« on: February 04, 2025, 0536 UTC »

I copied the following beacons using the KFS SDR at 7pm PST Pacific Feb 3, 2025
   4095.6   DW, good copy, S4
   4109.4   Coast Slider, fair copy, S2-3
   4069.4   - , weak, S2     

and at 9am this morning "HexY2k" on 6700.5, weak, S1.

3

Spy Numbers / UNID 8188 CW 1610 UTC 3 July 2024

« on: July 03, 2024, 1644 UTC »

Using the KFS SDR this morning, I was hearing weak (S1-2) numbers station sending 4-digit number groups in CW on 8188 kHz. The 4 digit groups were sent using 'cut numbers', where 0 is sent as T, 1=A, 2=U, 3-7 sent normally, 8=D, 9=N. The transmission lasted for at least 10 minutes and ceased at 1620UTC. No callsign was sent .

On a hunch that  at this time of morning on 8MHz that it was probably from Asia, I switched to Indonesian and Phillipine SDRs and the signal was stronger (S4-5) there. I then switched to an SDR in Taiwan and the signal was S9+10dB. This numbers station is likely located in Taiwan or China.

4

HF Beacons / Is the Desert Whooper OK?

« on: March 31, 2024, 1643 UTC »

For the past two weeks, DW signals have been considerably weaker than usual. Just me, or has anyone else noticed it?

In the past, DW was often a couple of S-units stronger than the Coast Slider, but now the situation is reversed. DW was typically S4-5 on the KFS and KPH SDRs, except for afternoon fades. But lately it is only S1-2, if I hear it at all.

5

HF Beacons / Re: New Dasher Beacon! "KOK"

« on: March 31, 2024, 1628 UTC »

 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.

6

HF Beacons / Re: New Dasher Beacon! "KOK"

« on: March 22, 2024, 0314 UTC »

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.

7

HF Beacons / Re: Long Dasher On 4069.4

« on: March 22, 2024, 0311 UTC »

Tuned to 4069.4 and waited for the dasher to start up this evening. At 0225Z (7:25pm local - a few minutes past sunset), it started up with a series short chirps (previously mentioned above) before settling down to the usual dashes. S2-S3 on the KFS Omni SDR.

Also copied the 2nd harmonic on 8138.9 -- much weaker and just above the noise.

8

HF Beacons / Nov 26 2023 loggings

« on: November 26, 2023, 1651 UTC »

Nov 23, 2023, 1600-1630Z, using the KFS Omni SDR:

4095.6   DW coming in strong, S5.
4095.9   Coxie, long dasher. S2 w/ slight droop in freq at the end of the long dash.
4109.4   Coastal Slider is sliding away. S3
6700.5   Hexy2K dasher, weak. S0
8192.0   Coxie 2nd harmonic, S1
8193.7   Marin Ditter, S2
8194.5   Fast Ditter, S2

9

22 Meter Band HiFER Beacons / Re: AN

« on: November 26, 2023, 1621 UTC »

Heard on 13564.18 at 1615Z Nov 26, 2023 using the KFS Omni SDR. Clear, with occasional deep fades.
Also noted the  slight (few tens of HZ) in frequency.

10

22 Meter Band HiFER Beacons / Re: Turkey Day Test 13565 - VUDU

« on: November 26, 2023, 1611 UTC »

Heard at 1600 11/26/23 using the KFS Omni SDR (Half Moon Bay, CA).

11

Spy Numbers / UNID 4123 CW 1300Z Sep 12 2023

« on: September 12, 2023, 1541 UTC »

Long strings of numbers and letters in slow, hand-sent Morse code. On 4123 kHz, ~1 hr before sunrise, using the KFS Omni SDR.

STENDEC

12

HF Beacons / Sept 12, 2023 beacons logs

« on: September 12, 2023, 1527 UTC »

The following beacon loggings were made at 1300Z (6am pacific) using the KFS Omni SDR:

'A'                     2097      S2
(slow dasher)     4069.4   S3
Desert Whooper 4095.6   S6
Coast Slider       4109.5   S5

and these daytime beacons at 1500Z (8am, 1 hr after sunrise)
Gendarme(?)     6623      S1
Hexy2K             6700.5   (looked for, but not heard)

STENDEC

13

HF Beacons / Re: Long Dasher On 4069.4

« on: April 18, 2023, 0357 UTC »

 It turns out that the 4069.4 long dasher may be a night-time only beacon, starting up at approx 1945 PDT (at dusk here on the west coast) and is gone by sunrise. At night time, it has a good signal using the home RX and also the west coast SDRs. I hear it in the evenings and night, but never during the day.

For the past three evenings, I have observed it starting up with a series of short chirps for ~30 seconds before settling into the usual long dashes. It could be on a timer or maybe it waits until dusk. It'll be interesting to observe the start times as the days get longer.

14

HF Beacons / Re: Beacon on 4.069

« on: April 05, 2023, 1920 UTC »

Hearing an evening beacon at around 4.069 here in So. Cal.

Good ears! I haven't heard this dasher for many months, but now hearing it on my home RX (on 4069.4) again in the evenings and early mornings, S2 to S3.

 Here's a thread from last March: https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,95110.0.html. The fact that it fades out at sunrise means that it's skywave propagation to my bay area QTH and located farther away than NVIS range (say 500 miles). Any ideas regarding a general location?

15

HF Beacons / Re: Coastal Slider Back On 4109.5

« on: January 21, 2023, 0651 UTC »

Agreed, CS now seems to be a daytime-only beacon, and then only in sunny weather. During California's recent 'atmospheric river events' it was was off the air for days.

CS actually keeps going a few hours past sunset. It's now about 10:30PM CA time and it's strong on the KFS SDR. But it'll be dead by morning.

I caught CS in 'wakeup mode' this morning around 9am. Irregular and shortened beeps for maybe 30 minutes, beeps a couple of times, stops for a few seconds, then chirps again, etc.  Seen on the KFS SDR, some of the beeps have an interesting signature and are spread over a couple of kHz (caused by low battery voltage?). See the attached screenshot.