[Lowfer] Information on beacon "R"

[Garry and Linda Hess]

The following is forwarded from jrwrightseosu at yahoo.com.  73 Garry, 
K3SIW, EN52ta, Elgin, IL

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Changing "R" to a slower transmit rate is a matter of changing an input 
parameter in the C-64 program that keys my beacon, and it takes less 
than a minute to execute the change.  I estimated a number that would 
get me somewhere near  QRSS-30, then entered that value and timed the 
dot length that it produced.  So beacon "R" is now transmitting QRSS-50 
- the dot is close to 50 seconds long by stopwatch.  The dash is 150 
seconds, etc. - standard keying.  This should work good at your QRSS-30 
setting because there is just the one character in my ID.

I made sure that the beacon was running maximum possible antenna 
voltage, and the string of neons is lit up brightly. 

As for frequency, the really critical thing at your end, I took note of 
the 7 Hz window in your screen shots of those other beacons.  I tried to 
get my old frequency counter working so that I could give you a better 
target, but it's hopeless; the counter was actually dead this time.  The 
last time it worked right the beacon read 169.863 kHz, but that was 
years ago.  The Counter read 169.882 right after I moved to Cotter and 
constructed the existing antenna, but I had doubts about the counter at 
that time.  The crystal itself is a fundamental and is the size of your 
thumb!  It is not in a STALO oven (something that needs doing).  The 
value stamped on the metal case is 169.800 kHz.  If you have the 
patience, try starting at 169.860 and scan 25 minutes, then move up 
about 6 Hz, etc.

If I were to guess, R in Cotter might get out 25% of the signal radiated 
by my better Oklahoma beacon.

Please pass this info to the others.