Topics

1

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.

2

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

3

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

4

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

5

HF Beacons / UNID ditter beacon: 7998.2

« on: September 09, 2022, 1654 UTC »

At 1615Z I am hearing a slow ditter on 7998.2 using the KPH SDR. Signal is S2-S3 and ~65 dits per minute. Also copied on the KFS Omni SDR but not as strong.

6

HF Beacons / 4 MHz beacons, 4/27/22 loggings

« on: April 27, 2022, 2244 UTC »

At 1300Z (5:00am Pacific time):

4109.5  Coast Slider, S4
4096.6  Desert Whooper, S7
4095.5  'L', S2
4095.2  Mud Duck, S3 

I haven't heard the latter two for some time and was surprised to hear them again.

7

HF Beacons / 4095.6 - the Desert Whooper Returns

« on: April 09, 2022, 0234 UTC »

 The Desert Whooper has returned -- good copy on most west coast SDRs at 0200Z today. It had disappeared a couple of weeks ago - for reasons unknown.

The Coast Slider went silent around the same time, but is still off the air. Hopefully it'll make a return like DW.

8

HF Beacons / CW telemetry beacon, 28.570 MHz -- VVV de UTAHSDR

« on: February 10, 2022, 0358 UTC »

OK this was a surprise for me...and my apologies if this beacon is already well-known, or if this is not the correct forum. But is is an HF beacon, and is not sending an FCC-licensed callsign -  so it is an 'unlicensed HF beacon'... but one that is not exactly clandestine either.

This CW beacon is on 28.570 MHz and sends telemetry data that includes (as near as I can decipher) local temperature, humidity, AC mains voltages, plus a few other pieces of data/readings that are more obscure. The beacon can *only* be heard on the Utah SDR (by design I'm sure), and probably is very low power - a few milliwatts. Its purpose seems to be to facilitate remote monitoring of the local environmental and electrical conditions at the Utah SDR site by simply tuning into the web-based SDR. Very clever! Here's what was being sent at 0300 UTC:

VVV VVV VVV (x3) DE UTAHSDR
TMP F   47      32       57
HUM     28      25       47
VAC     123.8  121.1  125.9
LCT 0
HCT 0
PF DUR0/0SEC AGO

The TMP and HUM numbers are likely temp and humidity readings. The 3 numbers are for current, low and high readings respectively?

VAC also has 3 numbers and all are in the 120 range. They are probably for the AC mains voltage - again current, low and high readings like the temp & humidity.

Just what the LCT, HCT and PF numbers represent are still a mystery.

STENDEC

9

HF Beacons / 4095.35 letter 'L' Beacon

« on: January 23, 2022, 0310 UTC »

4095.35 letter beacon heard on the KFS and KPH SDRs at 0300Z.  Sending 'L' every 2 seconds. Better copy on KPH, about an S2-4. 

The 'F' beacon on 4100 is also coming in well.

STENDEC

10

HF Beacons / UnID beacon: 4111.4 kHz

« on: January 07, 2022, 2317 UTC »

Using the KPH SDR, I'm hearing a slow dasher beacon on 4111.3 kHz, sending a ~1.5 second dash with every 2 seconds. The signal is an S4 with some fading.

STENDEC

11

HF Beacons / New Year beacon: 4114.5 kHz

« on: December 31, 2021, 2323 UTC »

Greetings and Happy New Year to all -

Using the KPH SDR I have been hearing a new (for me at least) dasher beacon  on 4114.5 kHz. It's sending a ~1.3 second dash every ~2 seconds.
It has been coming in nicely at S2-3 all day -- but has started to fade a bit (at 2300Z). I'm curious to see if it'll be just a 'transient' or a permanent fixture in the 4MHz constellation of beacons.

https://imgur.com/a/HM2FGh8

STENDEC

12

HF Beacons / 8192 beacon report

« on: October 26, 2021, 2155 UTC »

Time to give the 8Mhz beacons some love: using the KPH SDR to listen in the 8192 khz range, I can hear the Marin Ditter's 2nd harmonic at 8194.6 - as usual. Also two beacons that are not in the HFU beason list (don't know if they have been reported yet) a ditter at 8177.8 and a slow dasher at 8191.9.
Occasionally another slow dasher rises up above the noise at 8192.05.

STENDEC

https://imgur.com/a/JJOfmqE

13

The RF Workbench / Boxes for HF beacon

« on: May 22, 2021, 0358 UTC »

What weatherproof enclosures are people using for HF beacons? The planned site is in the high desert, but gets occasional heavy rain from summer thunderstorms. I'm appreciate any suggestions on enclosures and weatherproofing.

Thanks,
/stendec