Topics

1

HF Beacons / New 6870.05 Mt. Whitney, Calif. area dasher beacon

« on: July 22, 2014, 0118 UTC »

A new 6870.05 (with maybe 50 Hz drift) is dashing away 24/7 near Mt. Whitney, CA. 400 mW output. Antenna in Pine trees.  2 second long (approx.) dashes at 50% duty cycle keying on/off.

73

vlfradio

2

HF Beacons / New RR (dash) Mojave Desert Hifer beacon information!

« on: May 17, 2014, 0620 UTC »

The new - on air since about 29 April 2014: "RR-dash" beacon on 13562.90 kHz is located in the northern Mojave Desert of Calif. with approx. 10 mW to an inverted-L antenna cut actually for 3.9 MHz.  A series LC tuner matches the beacon xmtr. to the RG-8 antenna feedline, -- the xmtr is employing a  CB-14 (~27.125 MHz) (3rd overtone xtal) into divide-by-two (74HC4024) IC to 2N3904 final.

It runs 24/7 with outages for Dxing...

Kindest thanks for your reports here at HFU!

vlfradio 

Reports so far from: NM, AZ, GA, CO, etc. (in the USA) - tnx. and 73 - propagation on 22 meters is amazing - F2, E-skip, etc. - enjoy! vlfradio

HFU Rules - the best beacon info site on Earth - no shite!

3

HF Beacons / UPdated Desert beaconlist - Oct. 2012

« on: October 17, 2012, 1019 UTC »

Updated (partial) Desert PHifer Beacon List - October 2012 - v2. 

2025.16 kHz "Inyo Dark Ditter" 67 dits/minute.  Night-only, about 2 watts output
  to inv. vee on granite rock-pile. (s.w. USA in Calif.)

4096.24 "Hexie" 1 second-long dashes, 24/7, Joshua Tree NP, 400 mW
  on since Dec. 1997!

4097.25 "Inyo Whooper" daytime-only, about 90-chirping dashes/min.
   3/4 watts. First on April 2007

5205.3 "Sally" diter beacon in the Saline Valley, CA - east-facing
  solar-panel so mainly morning only (a daytimer). 1/2 watt.
  First on-air Feb. 2006

6626.3 "Rainy" - Mojave NP, CA - daytime ditter/chirper in
  Mojave NP, 1.5 watts, first on-air March 2003

6626.2 "Rocky" a "buzzer-beacon" located in Inyo, Co, CA
 with about 300 mW output - daytime only, first on-air Spring 2007

6700.5 "Hexy2k" Joshua Tree NP, 24/7, 100 mW to inv. vee, 150 mW
  first on-air 29 Dec. 1999

8193.75 "MarinDit" - 24/7 in Marin County, CA - about 80 dits/min.
  10-15 mW only - on-air since spring 2000 (an "attic beacon")

----------------

DOA beacons due to battery failure in need of battery replacement

4096.1 "Coxie" - Joshua Tree NP - battery dead...
4096.6 "Kelsie" Mojave NP - battery dead...

Mysterious sudden disappearance:

4089 Death Valley Ditter "Scotty Beacon" suddenly QRT NOv. 2011

----------------- - 73 - v

4

HF Beacons / 5205.3 saline Valley ditter strong this morning

« on: September 30, 2012, 1930 UTC »

The Saline Valley ditter on 5205.3 kHz is strong this morning and now at 1928 UT in Inyo Co. Ca.

This beacon uses an east-facing Siemens 1.8 -watt solar-panel so mainly morning-only beacon...

CODAR radar QRM as usual on this freq...

73 - v-

5

HF Beacons / Microwatt Miricle - sand-dune temperature drifter

« on: September 30, 2012, 1852 UTC »

I have implanted a mile from a small desert town in Inyo County a free-running oscillator beacon of about 1 mW output to low-1/4 wave wire up 3-8 feet above sand (1/4 wave gnd. counterpoise) amongst sand-dunes and scrub that is drifting between 2671 to 2679 kHz depending upon the outside temp and temp within its clear-plastic enclosure - the wee beacon runs on a 12 v/ 9 aH gel cell 24/7 and drifts upward as the temp declines. It is keyed by a 555 low-power timer chip to J-fet oscillator (coil is wound on a toroid) to a 2N2222 output buffer trans. keyed by a 2N2222 keying transistor. It FSKs about 2.12 kHz with one of its "side" of the FSK being a tad stronger than the other.

This beacon seems to closely track ambient temperature of its osc. circuit, thus it is called the "dunes drifter."

It might make the ULTIMATE skip-DX beacon for Token or those in a quiet location at dusk or night to dawn.

73 and gud DXing - -v-

6

MW Loggings / Hawaii Mediumwave DXpedition Nov. 2010: audio, pics, and text files online

« on: January 17, 2011, 0137 UTC »

Between 15 to 20 Nov. 2010, I went on a MW DXpedtion to north-east side of Oahu, Hawaii:

http://www.archive.org/details/HawaiiMediumwaveDxpeditionNovember2010

I think MW Dxers will be inteested in some of the DX received out in the Islands.

73 - vlfradio