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Equipment / So You Want To Build A Beacon - My Gongshow
« on: July 15, 2022, 1210 UTC »
This thread is going to be an ongoing update about my attempts to build a beacon. I figured centralizing my studies here might be helpful, so at least everything is in one place, and maybe I can save some headache for the next guy who tries this.
***
Hello internet,
So this story starts with the usual thought that never ends well for me: "How hard can it be?" In my specific case, I wanted to build an HF beacon. Initially, this project was driven by mild curiosity. I read about the Desert Whooper beacon, and wondered if I, a complete radio newb who knows zero about electronics, could build something similar. However, in the last two weeks, it has turned into a need to build this thing simply out of principle: (1) To prove it can be done, and (2) to push back against all the Ham-Karens that argue that it can't be done.
For this project, my intent was to build a cheap CW beacon using off-the-shelf plug-and-play parts. No soldering, no kits, no wiring diagrams. Just hit up Amazon, buy X,Y,Z, plug them all in, and you're in business. Easy as lego.
First road block encountered: Modularity like I'd hoped for appears to not exist. Or at least as far as I can tell. The difficulty appears to be in getting the various components to "Talk" to each other. If I can get past that hurdle, this should work I think.
Speaking of components, here's what a guy needs for this build:
- A thing to create a CW signal.
- A transmitter.
- An antenna.
There's other misc bits and pieces, and I'll get to those at a later stage. But for now, the above appears to be all a guy needs.
I'll wrap things up before this turns into a stream of consciousness. Updates will follow as I work through this mess. Have a nice day.
***
Hello internet,
So this story starts with the usual thought that never ends well for me: "How hard can it be?" In my specific case, I wanted to build an HF beacon. Initially, this project was driven by mild curiosity. I read about the Desert Whooper beacon, and wondered if I, a complete radio newb who knows zero about electronics, could build something similar. However, in the last two weeks, it has turned into a need to build this thing simply out of principle: (1) To prove it can be done, and (2) to push back against all the Ham-Karens that argue that it can't be done.
For this project, my intent was to build a cheap CW beacon using off-the-shelf plug-and-play parts. No soldering, no kits, no wiring diagrams. Just hit up Amazon, buy X,Y,Z, plug them all in, and you're in business. Easy as lego.
First road block encountered: Modularity like I'd hoped for appears to not exist. Or at least as far as I can tell. The difficulty appears to be in getting the various components to "Talk" to each other. If I can get past that hurdle, this should work I think.
Speaking of components, here's what a guy needs for this build:
- A thing to create a CW signal.
- A transmitter.
- An antenna.
There's other misc bits and pieces, and I'll get to those at a later stage. But for now, the above appears to be all a guy needs.
I'll wrap things up before this turns into a stream of consciousness. Updates will follow as I work through this mess. Have a nice day.