Messages

1

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Afternoon Beacon Log

« on: June 15, 2021, 2012 UTC »

all from KFS Kiwi SDR SE

4095.640 KHz  Desert Whooper. BAT 14.2  O TMP 104  I TMP 110  PV 5
4096.150 KHz  Beacon L,   TMP 38  BAT 131
4102.815 KHz  Windy.  Burning up? TMP 129 129 B 12.7
6627.140 KHz  Gendarme whooper
6700.490 KHz  Hexie2K

2

HF Beacons / Re: 4096.15 KHz New telemetry Beacon "L”

« on: June 15, 2021, 1659 UTC »

I was thinking the same thing, it says BEACON L, so maybe its name should be L.

I noticed this beacon yesterday, but I have no idea how long it has been active, yesterday was literally the first day I have looked at this freq area in more than a week.

T!

I've been logging data every day from a couple of beacons this month (except on the 5th) and always have the panadaptor on. "L" has a big signal that really sticks out so I'm going with yesterday as the launch. Unless someone PM's me with some "rumors" about deployment (and tech details).     

A few observations. The battery has only moved up by a tenth of a volt this morning so must be a small AH solar panel and "large" AH  battery. Temps seem to indicate a desert-ish area. Reading temp in Celsius without tenths of a degree seems a bit coarse compared to reading in Fahrenheit.

I've added this new L beacon to the master list. Congratulations to the creator for launching something new!

Jim

3

HF Beacons / Re: 4096.15 KHz New telemetry Beacon "L”

« on: June 15, 2021, 1413 UTC »

Maybe I got things wrong and the first dash is just a marker in the sequence. So I will just call this “Beacon L”

Signal strength is still high here at home. Battery voltage is unchanged at this posting at 12.9 and temp is at 33.

4

HF Beacons / Re: 4096.15 KHz New telemetry Beacon "L”

« on: June 15, 2021, 0344 UTC »

Had a thought that maybe the recent "L" beacon on 4096.12 was rebuilt?

Am wondering if in this new beacon's sequence if the "L" is a placeholder for digits that might be sent when daylight hits a solar panel?
It could be that no digits are sent when things are dark. Will check in the morning.

5

HF Beacons / 4096.15 KHz New telemetry Beacon "L”

« on: June 15, 2021, 0330 UTC »

I was checking on DW and Windy and saw a big CW signal nearby on the KX3's panadaptor.
So I tuned in to check out the Morse.

Dash
8 dits
BEACON L
TMP  35
BAT 129
8 dits

Repeats about 45 seconds. Assume temp is in Celsius.

6

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Evening Beacon Log

« on: June 15, 2021, 0306 UTC »

4095.650 KHz   Desert Whooper.  +15 dB over the noise,  BAT 13.1   O TMP 104   I TMP 105   PV 1
4096.110 KHz  Beacon or maritime station?

7

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Morning Beacon Log

« on: June 14, 2021, 1257 UTC »

Dawn is breaking so desert beacons are starting to rise up on the KX3

4095.650 KHz   DW! Good whoops coming in.  BAT 13.0  O TMP 78  I TMP 82 PV 12
4102.830 KHz   Windy! Weak to good signal. No breeze  TMP  80  B 12.1

8

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Morning Beacon Log

« on: June 14, 2021, 1249 UTC »

Decided to check some other Russian Beacons

8495.300 KHz  Russian K, pretty strong on my KX3
8495.400 KHz  Russian M, weak but readable
10,872.400 KHz  Russian M, barely readable

9

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Morning Beacon Log

« on: June 14, 2021, 1239 UTC »

4095.650 KHz  DW, S9-S10 on KFS, BAT  13.0   OTMP  78  ITMP  82  PV  1
7039.400 KHz  Russian M beacon, very weak on my KX3

10

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Morning Beacon Log

« on: June 11, 2021, 1457 UTC »

4095.650 KHz  DW, weak but readable, BAT  13.7   OTMP  68  ITMP  73  PV  5
4102.840 KHz  Windy. Slight breeze. TMP  97   B   12.1
7039.400 KHz  Russian M beacon, very weak

11

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Afternoon Beacon Log

« on: June 09, 2021, 2351 UTC »

6626.975 KHz  Gendarme whooper, good signal with mild fading
6700.500 KHz  Hexie2K, big signal at _+30 over the noise on my KX3














[/quote]

12

HF Beacons / Re: NEW REMOTE BEACON "Cry Baby" AKA CB

« on: June 09, 2021, 1934 UTC »

Which One of the Utah kiwis? I’ve been trying the LP Yagi facing east but no luck. 😢

13

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Morning Beacon Log

« on: June 04, 2021, 1709 UTC »

For the heck of it I tuned in to Gendarme and lo and behold....

6627.2 KHz  Gendarme. Weak but easily recognizable on my KX3 here at home

14

HF Beacons / Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?

« on: June 04, 2021, 0051 UTC »

Summer in MN is glorious but brief.  Nights are short and the sun never gets all that far below the horizon.  Compared to long winter nights, this isn't favorable for receiving 4MHz beacons like Windy and DW.   Propagation predictions show this and my own experience is consistent with them.   The last two nights have had very quiet conditions in terms of geomagnetic conditions, lightning, and local noise.  But the beacons are weak here in the 0900-1100Z predawn hours, rising above the low noise floor only briefly.    I get clear IDs from Windy, but not full frames of telemetry.  DW is mostly just a ghost of an image on the waterfall.   Oh well, it is a great time of year to enjoy the outdoors instead!

DW and Windy seem to have fairly "big" signals 24/7 but there is no way I will ever hear CryBaby in the eastern Rockies since it only runs 10mW and only during daylight hours.  This is where SDRs are so useful whether I live in California or Minnesota.   

15

HF Beacons / Re: New whooper beacon on 4095.65

« on: June 03, 2021, 1639 UTC »

I temp of 114.....that's a lot !

Nothing electronic likes that kind of heat....especially things like electrolytic caps .  It must see direct sun at times.

Based on DW's telemetry data and assuming the temps are Outside and Inside, the data shows a delta of 5-8 degrees typical. Therefore I don't think there is much in the way of direct sunlight impinging on DW's box. I believe the delta to be the product of internal heating due to power consumption. Conventional electronic components are designed to operate with upper limits generally set at 158 F for commercial applications. Good electrolytic caps are typically rated at 25,000 hours service life at 70C/158F. Chinese quality can be a crapshoot but I have to say I have had some Baofeng UV5R's in 24/7 use for three years without failure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_temperature#Commercial_and_retail
https://www.xppower.com/resources/blog/electrolytic-capacitor-lifetime-in-power-supplies#:~:text=Manufacturers%20of%20electrolytic%20capacitors%20specify,to%2010%2C000%20hours%20or%20more.