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HF Beacons / The Desert Whooper
« on: August 14, 2021, 0051 UTC »
This is the QSL card that will be available soon to confirm your reception reports.
The elusive Desert Whooper used to inhabit the shores of ancient Lake Mojave and is harder to spot than the more common Bigfoot creatures. DW's lonely whoop modulates the electric charge stored in its tail and pulses an electromagnetic wave outwards.
In honor of the Desert Whoopers, the beacon was built from scratch and has a hybrid analog/Nano controller so that it can continue to whoop if the Nano fails. The transmitter is crystal controlled and features a varactor diode circuit for the upward frequency sweep.
Telemetry is as follows:
BAT is in volts DC
oTMP is in degrees F with a calibrated thermistor
iTMP is in degrees F using a digital two wire sensor within the weather tight box
PV is in milliAmps to monitor solar panel performance
The antenna is a 1/2 wave dipole oriented North/South but .15 wavelength above the desert soil to create a more vertical but omni-like pattern. The 1:1 balun is home made and measured VSWR is close to 1.1 to 1
Thank you to all who have posted logs. They are very useful!
The elusive Desert Whooper used to inhabit the shores of ancient Lake Mojave and is harder to spot than the more common Bigfoot creatures. DW's lonely whoop modulates the electric charge stored in its tail and pulses an electromagnetic wave outwards.
In honor of the Desert Whoopers, the beacon was built from scratch and has a hybrid analog/Nano controller so that it can continue to whoop if the Nano fails. The transmitter is crystal controlled and features a varactor diode circuit for the upward frequency sweep.
Telemetry is as follows:
BAT is in volts DC
oTMP is in degrees F with a calibrated thermistor
iTMP is in degrees F using a digital two wire sensor within the weather tight box
PV is in milliAmps to monitor solar panel performance
The antenna is a 1/2 wave dipole oriented North/South but .15 wavelength above the desert soil to create a more vertical but omni-like pattern. The 1:1 balun is home made and measured VSWR is close to 1.1 to 1
Thank you to all who have posted logs. They are very useful!
