Messages

691

HF Beacons / Re: New Beacon "L" on 4096.12

« on: May 04, 2021, 0345 UTC »

The very few HF experimenters I know tend to be an obsessive lot, one will drive 800mi R-T to retrieve his “pet beacon” just to make a few changes, another can’t seem to leave his creation in the field “too long”, so its hard to tell about “L”, is it a malfunction or is it an over attentive creator?

I guess its like kids and animals we just have to be happy we have them for the time we do and hope they come back to stay or just hang around for a while.

The way I look at it, 800 miles is $120 or more of gas and that money could be spent on more robust components for the beacon. Driving time could be used for performing in depth testing to ensure increased reliability. (The remote dataloggers I built and deployed three years back only require a new SLA battery every 14 months).

Mojave Beaconeer built his "auroral chorus" based on very simple low power circuits and some of them are many years old and functioning well, even without batteries holding a charge any more.

692

HF Beacons / Re: New whooper beacon on 4095.6

« on: May 04, 2021, 0118 UTC »

BAT 13.1
O TMP 83
I TMP 88
PV 82

good signal here at home

693

HF Beacons / Re: New Beacon "L" on 4096.12

« on: May 04, 2021, 0109 UTC »

DW is so strong here that I can hear a low whoop in the passband of my NRD-525 tuned to "L" 4096.12

Maybe I should rename this thread "Beacon L  4096.12 malfunction?" so we can encourage the owner to get it back on the air ASAP 

I miss it already!

694

HF Beacons / Re: Is this slow ditter Hexy?

« on: May 03, 2021, 1717 UTC »

it is on 6700.47 KHz right now

695

HF Beacons / Re: Russian MX beacons log.

« on: May 03, 2021, 1404 UTC »

Big signal here at home from "K" on 7039.3

696

HF Beacons / Re: Windy 4102.85 malfunction?

« on: May 03, 2021, 1402 UTC »

Fair signal here at home, steady wind activity dits, 75 degrees and 11.6 volts reported

697

HF Beacons / Re: New whooper beacon on 4095.6

« on: May 03, 2021, 1400 UTC »

BAT 13.7
O TMP 68
I TMP 71
PV 602


good signal here at home

698

HF Beacons / Re: New Beacon "L" on 4096.12

« on: May 03, 2021, 1357 UTC »

No sign of "L" this morning. I last heard it when it was on the air last night around 9:30PM PST

699

HF Beacons / 4100.04 KHz "H"

« on: May 03, 2021, 1355 UTC »

I was looking around with the KFS SE kiwi and spotted this beacon sending four dits

700

HF Beacons / Re: Dasher on 4096.25

« on: May 03, 2021, 0112 UTC »

I have been hearing a CW signal here in Los Angeles with an 566 RST. Been very consistent for the past very years. I have been all the way up Hwy 395 from Victorville all the way to Ransburg. Not seeing a significant signal increase. May try I15 to Las Vegas and see if I can get this station on ground wave. 
Dennis V WA6ATI

Hi Dennis!

Please don't give out specific location information that might lead some unkind soul to more easily track down and disrupt any beacon. I've also developed a few leads on where some beacons might be but I don't want to alarm the beacon owners into moving or shutting down their device. I've only discussed location ideas in private channels.

Thanks!

Jim

701

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Afternoon Beacon Log

« on: May 02, 2021, 1836 UTC »

I was just viewing an SDR and the 4 MHz band is so well populated once again: DW, McGreevy's resurrected beacon, L, the fast ditter and Windy all whispering into the ether at the same time. Very cool!

I wish 2097 "A" was back too but maybe something new will come alive there some day?

702

HF Beacons / Re: New Beacon "L" on 4096.12

« on: May 02, 2021, 1438 UTC »

I can't quite put my finger on it but it's an oddly cadenced "L".

Yup. When it popped up in signal strength my very first impression was "AI". Maybe it's not generated by a microcontroller but instead by a Black Cat morse memorizer   https://www.blackcatsystems.com/rf-products/ham_amateur_radio_beacon_cw_keyer_kit.html

The creator of L may have a bad CW fist and now it is memorialized 

703

HF Beacons / Re: New Beacon "L" on 4096.12

« on: May 02, 2021, 0515 UTC »

Interesting how both DW and L were fairly weak when first discovered but after a number of months they both jumped in signal strength. Probably both were in development for a while then were deployed with better antennas at their final hide site.

704

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Evening Beacon Log

« on: May 02, 2021, 0512 UTC »

4095.650 KHz  DW the Desert Whooper.  +25 dB over the noise,  BAT  13.1   O TMP 73   I TMP 78   PV 0
4096.12  KHz   Beacon L. +25 dB over the noise
4102.840 KHz  Windy. +25 dB over the noise. Light breeze. Tmp 78  B is 11.9

705

HF Beacons / Re: Teotwaki's Afternoon Beacon Log

« on: May 02, 2021, 0055 UTC »

4MHz Afternoon Beacon Party Picture

Left to right:

4095.65   Desert Whooper transitioning from telemetry to Whoop mode
4096.12   L beacon with it's slow Morse code and new, higher ERP
4097.26   Fast ditter
4102.85   Windy transitioning from anemometer to telemetry mode