4079khz TMP beacon

[CptFourA]

Checked on the 4079khz Temperature beacon this morning. Good signal and clear copy. 55-56 degree temp.

HFUnderground Beacon wiki states this is a 1W beacon out of SW Arizona.

Short recording from this morning, approx 1700Z, location is Phoenix, AZ metro area. Icom 718 with 40m dipole not up very high.

4a.

[zackers]

I have been trying to hear this beacon and others in the vicinity of 4 MHz this winter with no luck. I believe central Illinois is on the fringe area of some of them but I have heard the TMP beacon, MO on 4077.4, Kelsie, Hexie and others in past years. This year nothing. I've been listening at least a few nights a week at several times during the night. Not a peep from any of them here.

Earlier in the winter I was hearing CO on 3449.8 or thereabouts. It would show up an hour or so after the sun set in the western USA and be copyable through the night. I haven't heard it in about a month now.

I'm still using the same antenna and radio (80m dipole and TS-850S). Must just be really poor conditions.

[Greenfroggy]

OK has been on a few times 3450 -+, I have only heard it one time...
MO was busted a couple of years ago by the F.C.C.
S seems to be dead...
GF

[zackers]

Curious ... do most of these run 24/7 or do some of them (like CO on 3450+-) get turned off sometimes? Nothing heard tonight again in this part of the spectrum. I've been hearing the Russian MX beacons around 7038-9 fairly consistently.

[zackers]

I got to listen this past weekend at a ham radio contest superstation in central Illinois. I had a 3 element 80 meter beam at my disposal and Elecraft K3's. Since ~5 am is in the contest doldrums, I listened around for the 3450 kHz "CO" beacon and various things around 4075-4096. I didn't hear anything. If I can't hear them on that station, I'm assuming conditions must really be bad for my area. Either that or some or most are off the air.

[Token]

OK has been on a few times 3450 -+, I have only heard it one time...
MO was busted a couple of years ago by the F.C.C.
S seems to be dead...
GF

You sure about that MO bust?  I do not bother to write them in a log so I could very possibly be wrong and be missremembering the date, but I could swear I heard MO maybe 6 months ago.

T!

[zackers]

Token, you're a lot closer to them than I am. Can you tell which ones are still active?

[Token]

A quick tour around the dial, 2340 to 2355 UTC yesterday, and before dark, yields:

8194.2   2nd harmonic of the Inyo-whooper on 4097.1
8193.7   Unk dasher, been there a long time
8192.5   Unk dasher, been there a long time
6700.6   Hexy2k dasher
6626.1   Rocky ditter, 199 dits/min.  Not sure if I am hearing Rainy in there or not.
4097.1   Inyo-whooper
4096.6   Kelsie dasher
4096.3   Hexie dasher
4079.7   TMP temp beacon, at this time sending TMP 76
2097.3   A

I imagine if I took some time and dug a little bit I could find a few more.  And if I hit it at night on a quiet night probably a few more.

T!

[zackers]

Thanks! Has the TMP beacon changed frequency? That may explain why I haven't been able to hear it on ~4079.

[Token]

Thanks! Has the TMP beacon changed frequency? That may explain why I haven't been able to hear it on ~4079.

Nope, 4097.7 was a typo, the real freq for TMP was 4079.7.

T!

[zackers]

OK thanks. I was wondering if that was the case. I'll keep on listening.

We had a line of thunderstorms move through here starting about 8 pm that made shortwave reception almost impossible. I think it's about the end of the winter season.

[zackers]

I hear the TMP beacon on 4079.66 tonight from near Peoria, IL with an 80m beam aimed southwest. Also hear the Hexie and Kelsie dashers ~ 4096.25 and 4096.55 and another dasher a couple more hundred Hz up from those two.

Still no sign of the CO beacon on 3450 or the MO beacon on 4077.4.