High Frequency Beacon
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| - | A generic term for an unlicensed '''[[beacon]]''' that does not follow government regulations for operation (such as [[Part 15]]), and are technically illegal. | + | A generic term for an unlicensed '''[[radio beacon]]''' that does not follow government regulations for operation (such as [[Part 15]]), and are technically illegal. |
There are many of these beacons, quite a few are run as propagation experiments. Due to their nature, the exact location of these stations is generally not known, although many are believed to operate from remote locations in the deserts of the southwest USA. Likewise, these stations tend to suddenly appear and disappear from the air. Most run with very low power levels of just hundreds or even tens of milliwatts of power, and are often solar powered, so they can be hidden in open areas. Some are switched via a photocell, so they only operate at night, running off of a battery that is charged during the daytime by a solar panel. | There are many of these beacons, quite a few are run as propagation experiments. Due to their nature, the exact location of these stations is generally not known, although many are believed to operate from remote locations in the deserts of the southwest USA. Likewise, these stations tend to suddenly appear and disappear from the air. Most run with very low power levels of just hundreds or even tens of milliwatts of power, and are often solar powered, so they can be hidden in open areas. Some are switched via a photocell, so they only operate at night, running off of a battery that is charged during the daytime by a solar panel. | ||
Revision as of 06:02, 9 August 2010
A generic term for an unlicensed radio beacon that does not follow government regulations for operation (such as Part 15), and are technically illegal.
There are many of these beacons, quite a few are run as propagation experiments. Due to their nature, the exact location of these stations is generally not known, although many are believed to operate from remote locations in the deserts of the southwest USA. Likewise, these stations tend to suddenly appear and disappear from the air. Most run with very low power levels of just hundreds or even tens of milliwatts of power, and are often solar powered, so they can be hidden in open areas. Some are switched via a photocell, so they only operate at night, running off of a battery that is charged during the daytime by a solar panel.
There is a message board where listeners can report reception of beacons, it is also useful to see what other folks are presently hearing: HF Beacon Loggings
Here are some Pictures of high frequency beacons
Reported High Frequency Beacons
| Freq (kHz) | Station ID | Operation Notes | |
| 2097 | A | Arizona (15 watts) - 'A' ident or malfunctions as series of dits - 15 watts max., 24/7 (back on the air, recently reported on 6 April 2009) | |
| 3450 | OK | OK | |
| 4062 | C | Very drifty, but slow drift, logged form 4052 to 4063. Its morse is not timed correcctly, it is probably sending a C with a short first dah (longer than dit, shorter than dah), but it could be an ER with a long dit, or a TR with a short dah. 24/7 Location: SW, probably CA | |
| 4078.14 | WW | 300-400 mW Inverted L night time only Location: Colorado | |
| 4077.27 | MO | Solar 200 mW 118ft end fed wire 24/7 Location: Oklahoma | |
| 4079 | TMPnnn | The TEMPERATURE BEACON - Temperature in deg. F. in s.w. Arizona - sends 'TMP' then 2 - 3 digit temp. in CW every 10 seconds. 1 watt | |
| 4089 | . | About 80 dits/minute, Death Valley N.P., 24/7, 500 mW to inv. vee. dipole | |
| 4094.2 | PA | Solar power 200 mW Dipole 24/7 Location: Arkansas | |
| | | ||
| 4096 | ......_ | 6 dots 1 dash | |
| 4096.1 | Dasher | 4.5 sec long dashes (about 13 dashes per min.) Joshua Tree N.P.- big signal - north-facing dipole ('Coxie') 24/7 | |
| 4096.25 | Dasher | 1 sec dash (about 30 per min.) Joshua Tree N.P., 400 mW to inverted vee, 24/7 ('Hexie') | |
| 4096.6 | Dasher | 2 sec. dash (about 16 per minute) Mojave Nat. Preserve-400 mW to inverted vee, 24/7 ('Kelsie') | |
| 4097.2 | Dasher | 55 dashes per minute with chirp when sun is low; day-only, Inyo County, Calif. near DVNP at 5300 ft. elevation ('Inyo-whooper'), inv. vee., 0.5w | |
| 4097.4 | KX | "KX" ten times, then "TEMP IN F", then the temp (three times) inside the enclosure, then "TEMP OUT F", and the outside temp, again three times. | |
| 4102.3 | W... | The WIND BEACON - sends 'W' ident and series of dits - each dit correlating to a turn of its anenometer, so if it is windy in the s.e. California desert, it sends lots of dits; and no wind, no dits. | |
| 4194 | MX | Xtal controlled milliwatt beacon operated occasionally in europe. Sometimes sends straight carrier instead of ID. | |
| 4608 | MXC | Xtal controlled milliwatt beacon operated occasionally in europe. Sometimes sends straight carrier instead of ID. Sister beacon to MX. | |
| 5157.6 | Dasher | BLINKY 200 mW Dipole 24/7 Location: Florida | |
| 5484 | SD | San Diego, CA | |
| 5499.13 | WA | Dasher | |
| 5678.4 | Dasher | PIKE solar/battery 100 mW Dipole 24/7 Location: Colorado "Honker" | |
| 6549.3 | FL | 300 mW Dipole 24/7 Location: Florida | |
| 6626.2 | S | About 60-200 dashes per min., Inyo COunty, Calif. near DVNP, sun-only, ~200 mW ('Rocky') | |
| 6626.4 | Dits | Fast 'drippy' sounding dits about 100/min., Mojave N.P., sun-only, 1.5 watts ('Rainy') | |
| 6700.4 | Dasher | About 62 dashes per min., 24/7, Joshua Tree N.P. (Hexy2k) | |
| 8001.5 | S | S.W. Arizona, sun-only, 1 watt. strong signal daytimes | |
| 8003 | Dasher | Solar/battery dipole 24/7 Location: Colorado "Pike 78" 78 dashes/min | |
| 8188.7 | W | Solar/battery 100 mW dipole daylight /7 Location: Colorado | |
| 8211.7 | OR | ||
| 8261 | F | 250mW into a 1/2 wave inverted vee, 1400-0500, location: Western Canada | |
| 8497.7 | Dasher | Pike 26 26 dashes/min | |
| 10236.7 | FL | Dasher | |
| 11002.7 | CO | Solar battery 300 mW dipole 24/7 Location: Colorado | |
| 14400.3 | UFO | Location: Colorado | |
| | Obliterated by lightning in June 2010. Replacement is in the works. |
PHFER Beacon Madness - A glimpse into the Pathology and Symptoms of this Disease
External Links
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