[NLRS] An idea for an NLRS beacon network

[Paul Husby]

The first thing I do when I get out to the Farm is look for beacons -
WD9BGA on 2m, W0ZQ on 222, N0EDV on 432.  If I'm around for a while I may
look for some of the more distant beacons, but mostly I just want to
confirm that my receivers and antennas are working.

I wish I had beaons to look for on higher bands, but I'm glad to have
these.  Everyone who maintains a beacon does us a great service.  Maybe as
a club we could work to expand the availability of beacons, rather than
just waiting for them appear out of the goodness of someone's efforts.
 Some of the information we could collect:

Existing plans:  There are individuals out there with plans to put on a
beacon;  maybe they are missing a component of the system, or maybe they
just haven't gotten it done.  It would be nice to find out who has an idea
to do what.

Equipment:  There are people out there with equipment that they might be
happy to make available to a beacon project.  What is needed, and who has
it?

Locations:  The people with the gear may not have the right location.  As a
group we could help find widely distributed locations.  Some people have
access to commercial tower sites.  Some of our HF contesting friends who
have gotten into 6m may be happy to host a beacon on a higher band.

Financial support:  If a project is close, but slightly lacking, maybe some
club money could help in construction or operating support.  With a little
jump start help, a good project will likely garner future support the same
way that people support this reflector.

Besides giving us some signals to look for, known active beacons get people
outside the region to look our way - and that can be a really big plus.
 Let's talk about this a little at Aurora '14, and maybe get a group
together to work on an organized effort.

73
Paul W0UC