The Desert Whooper

[Teotwaki]

Hey Desert Whooper

Can I drop in at the "Ranch" for DW's 1 year of operation party?


Just Kidding! Spotted this off ramp sign on one of my road trips.

[UtilitySeattle]

4095xxx 9:45 UTC Feb 14 2022 Good signal into Snohomish County, WA S6 just out of the noise floor. Specs on my receiving in signature. Never thought I'd hear this one! Really getting out.

eQSL to bubba.radio@hotmail.com if possible.

What beacon sounded like.
https://soundcloud.com/bubba-seattle/sdruno-20220214-013848-4095000hz

Pic of screen
https://prnt.sc/26viqio

[Teotwaki]

Fair signal right now, here at home, about as good as it was in February of 2021

4095.700 KHz  DW with BAT 13.1 volts  oTMP 72 deg  iTMP  76 deg  PV 0 mA   at 7 PM PST

4095.700 KHz  DW with BAT 13.0 volts  oTMP 68 deg  iTMP  75 deg  PV 0 mA   at 8:33 PM PST

[Desert Whooper]

Hey Desert Whooper

Can I drop in at the "Ranch" for DW's 1 year of operation party?


Just Kidding! Spotted this off ramp sign on one of my road trips.

Good one! Might use it on
 QSL cards

Thanks!

[Desert Whooper]

Today is DW's first birthday! We installed a new solar shield for the outside temp sensor and retensioned the antenna guy lines.

Thanks to all for the signal reports and qsl requests!


The DW Team

[Teotwaki]

Hey there! Is the beacon off the air?

[Desert Whooper]

DW was retrieved and is undergoing testing and repairs. There seems to have been some lightning strikes nearby, possibly from that big storm.. The processor was dead and possibly the PV current sensor is dead too.  Nothing is burned so maybe a quick overvoltage event? The antenna seems fine but a low voltage gas tube arrester was installed on the coax even though it's not certain that was the surge entry point.

We hope to have DW back in the desert soon. We're losing temperature data!

DW team

[Desert Whooper]

DW is operational again!

We found that when first activating DW this morning the BAT and PV numbers seemed incorrect. It turned out that the solar charge controller was also damaged. It was a quick module swap out and all is good again. Signal strength seems good so we'll be watching DWs telemetry and keep our fingers crossed.

[stendec]

Copied DW at 1300Z this morning on my home RX in Northern Ca and signal was S6-7:
Bat = 12.8
OTMP = 55
ITMP = 62
PV = 1

Great work by the DW beaconeers getting it back on the air (and having a spare solar controller on hand!).

[MojaveBeaconeer]

Next time you're there could you put it on the former Windy freq. (4102.7 or so)  to get the whooping away from the sun only ditter/dasher cluster (makes for more esthetic listening). - I and a friend in MN ask this... please?

[Teotwaki]

Next time you're there could you put it on the former Windy freq. (4102.7 or so)  to get the whooping away from the sun only ditter/dasher cluster (makes for more esthetic listening). - I and a friend in MN ask this... please?

First off, this weird request should have been sent in a PM but since you stated this in public view in a technical beacon thread I am going to give you some feedback as a beacon fan and not a moderator..

4096 is a common CPU clock crystal frequency and is not assigned to any one beacon builder. Besides, are you the Marine Band Pirate Beacon FCC that now presumes to be reassigning Windy's frequency? Let the owner of Windy post up and relay his/her plans. On top of that you opened the door to other beacons on 4096 when you publicly "departed" from the pirate beacon realm and took most of your beacons off the air.

Mark and readers:

I am not creating new beacons anymore due to now delving into ELF and other non shortwave realms of EM waves, so the only 4096 beacon of mine is Coxie long dasher on 4069.0 plus and minus drift. I think Rainy is QRT now... unheard even with short daytime skip. HexY2k 6700.50 is still functioning by day amazingly but I wonder if someone has moved it or replaced maintained it in my 14 year absence from Joshua Tree NP. A few days ago MarinDit was in on 8193.77 so that oscillator only beacon on AC power might very well wind up as my final and only beacon signal remaining as they all dwindle away, so enjoy my remaining signals.

I am always laughing here at the "Windy Beacon Monitoring Fan Club" here having been one of a few whom have seen that up close, long ago, in another time...

It is good others are on this bandwagon so I can depart it. Good luck , DXing, and 73...

I really liked your Inyo Whooper but you took it off the air. I liked hearing your Viking beacon because of it's location but you took that off the air, changed the name and moved it twice, making it impossible to hear without resorting to an SDR. Given that your sun only beacons are huge frequency drifters I think it is you that should at least redesign for stability if not move to a different frequency. If your beacons were actually stable on 4096 the DW beacon would not be an issue when using a modern receiver with tunable bandwidths.

DW is fun to listen to because people can actually hear it and the data it sends. You very publicly jumped off the "bandwagon" so complaining about the newcomer's pirate beacons is just sour grapes.

Moderator Mode On: If this turns into a longer discussion I should move it to "Mojave Beaconeer's Opinions, Thoughts and Recollections" where it belongs

https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,90046.0.html

[Dave Richards]

I'm on an extended campervan trip, to wherever my fancy takes me. I've been doing very little SW listening, but did catch Gendarme (which I will report elsewhere) and DW, on my little Belka-DX portable receiver, with the set top whip.

I'm in Coconino National Forest, a few miles north of Flagstaff, AZ, from where I logged DW, at 0010z on 4/21/2022. Weak sigs, but no QSB and perfectly copyable.

[Teotwaki]

Great trip report Dave!

[Desert Whooper]

Next time you're there could you put it on the former Windy freq. (4102.7 or so)  to get the whooping away from the sun only ditter/dasher cluster (makes for more esthetic listening). - I and a friend in MN ask this... please?

Old Chap: if your beacons were fixed in frequency rather than wondering up and down there would be no issue. DW is fixed and varies maybe 50 hertz over many months so there is no way it is being moved onto Windy's reserved spot.

[Desert Whooper]

Copied DW at 1300Z this morning on my home RX in Northern Ca and signal was S6-7:
Bat = 12.8
OTMP = 55
ITMP = 62
PV = 1

Great work by the DW beaconeers getting it back on the air (and having a spare solar controller on hand!).

Thank you for your reports and your kind words. The whole DW team appreciates them!