[MAMS] Hepburn troop forecast

[Zack Widup]

I sent an e-mail to N9SS about hearing the beacon. He told me I was the
first person ever outside of Peoria to report hearing any of his beacons.

He built the beacon(s) mainly for his own use. He's used them to peak up
preamps, etc. The 144.275 MHz beacon is running 25 milliwatts to a loop
antenna up 30 feet. It has a set of attenuators it goes through; he said
there are six -10 dB steps. I could hear two of the steps yesterday
morning, which means I was hearing 250 microwatts as the weakest one I
could detect.

He said he also has beacons on ~ 432.300 and 1296.300. The keyer cycles
through the three; it sends V's on two of the beacons while it sends its ID
and steps through power levels on one. So it starts on 144.275 and sends
its ID and goes through the six power levels while sending V's on 432 and
1296, then says "QSY to 432" and sends V's on 144 and 1296 while ID'ing on
432, then goes to 1296, etc.

There must've been some sort of enhancement yesterday for me to hear this
beacon 95 miles away. I don't know why I didn't hear any other signals on
144 MHz except beacons.

I am going to listen for the 432 and 1296 beacons this Sunday when I'm in
the UHF contest. I'll be closer; EN50rl > EN50es is about 60 miles.

73, Zack W9SZ


On Wed, Aug 1, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Zack Widup <w9sz.zack at gmail.com> wrote:

> The N9SS beacon on 144.275 is an odd little beacon. When I first heard it,
> I thought it was someone tuning up. It's located in Peoria (EN50es). It's a
> very low power beacon but I was hearing it well this morning in EN60af.
>
> 73, Zack W9SZ
>