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« on: December 08, 2021, 1633 UTC »
Hello Heathkit,
Don't feel "stung" by the edict to look-up the beacon listings, plus there are folks I know who never would admit nor list any bcn. freqs.
Jim likely was making a kind suggestion rather than an admonishment. I understand your sensitivities there.
Notice however, although I was one of the (regretfully) starters of this whole mania back in 1988 and then in 1997 (4096ers); I decided to become far less visible and verbose here at HFU after 2020.
Above the (annoying cacaphony?) of the DW unit (I listen in USB-mode above 4095.61 kHz to rid of it's too wideband signal - OK with the CW telemetry); then I can listen to the much more subtle interplay of the dashers fast and slow. I am happy DW (at least) was put below 4095.6 so it could be tuned-out. Another deep friend of mine in NM agrees - he loves the mellow dashers fast & slow but hates the cacphony of the DW beacon which is too blatant, and I must absolve myself of any potential suspicion of involvement in it - NEGATIVE.
In fact I have decided to stick to day/Sun only beacons under 1/3 watt so they do not propagate in a huge footprint at night unlike the former glory of the 4096 / 4097 clusters 20 years ago.
So... I think I was a point person to begin this mania, and notice I am still a "newbie" (oh I was upgraded to Junior) here LOL/hi! The robot of this site decides who is the Newbie and who is not, but often, perhaps, the inverse is true.
This is a rare check-in to add necessary input.
I keep to a lower profile re. the desert beacon stuff. Well heck, Uncle Charlie (the Band Crammer Entity of Earth) is VERY responsible for horrid saturation levels of AM/FM broadcast station cram-jam on the once very DXable MW band and also FM!
Now the crap on AM/FM is so ugly and noxious I admit to 99% dropping out from broadcast DXing - rarely do I scan the clogged/traffic-jam/graveyarder band of AM... (hardly now) compared to pre-1979 WARC- decisions and the splitting of the band into 9 kHz spacing (still wonderful for TP/TA DXing) and the aftermath of that, which for a brief spell until mid-1982 -- such as when the "Clear Channel Busters" began to come OTA - example of hundreds: 880 KIXI Mercer Isl./Seattle ruining the once lovely 882 1YC/4BH mix with a SLOOOW SAH. al night until 1YC signed-off. Splatter ensued. Gone!
The politicized AM band is so ugly now I cannot hang around listening to AM most days unless I employ VERY directional Beverage antenna for AM DXing, and this is only seasonal.
The "refuge" away from increasing AM/FM-BCB band-cramming thanks to Charlie became SW/HF... relative "wide open spaces" actually declining in Intnl. SWBC band-cram as the Internet rose-up, although I was saddened at the decline of the once glorious 60mb Tropical Band BC stations like an "alter-band" enjoyable away from the MW poison.
HF is now so "uglyfied" all over nowadays = so full of "junk" signals such as OTHB radar noise so wide-band; and digi-crud. Too much of the HF ham bands are full of noxious SSB QSOs and Linear Amplifier bragging/equipment talk (I hardly know any of the new "stuff" on the ham-market; nor do I really care). HAMQRM-digi-crud noise and LinAmp. splatter abounds - noise from skywave skip of arcing power-lines increases deep rural noise levels often to S5-S7 and above - inescapable...
So I flee down to the VLF/ELF and Schumann Resonance frequencies for deep research... EXCEPT, whistlers and Dawn Chorus are largely GONE (even at high-geomagnetic latitudes) despite oodles of mag. storms occurring over the past decade but which result in little natural-radio sounds to be heard and recorded, so unlike the 80s and 90s.
Now... I just keep on the fringe of radio/do my thing/contribute a sprinkling of input/and vanish into the woodwork again, folks. The glory days seem to be gone in place of the Digital Devil Risen and it's Panopticon ability to "know all" --- SDRs that can TDoA-score a location of a pir8 or beacon quickly (and these are only the "civvie" units--- go figure).
The fun is over almost compared to decades ago, and "old timers" I speak to agree... Good Luck.... you are going to need it more and more...
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