[NLRS] Beacon chatter

[Bill Davis via NLRS]

  I haven't commented on the beacon discussion that was conducted here last week. I am very concerned over the declining the number of useful beacons. I had inquired about a month ago about the status of the K0KP 6m beacon. Rex has retired and he indicated that he was a bit uncomfortable with "imposing" a beacon on a location that he is no longer an employee of. (My messed up sentence, not his) So we may be loosing it too. I don't know what his latest thoughts are.

  My use of beacons is usually a QUICK band system check. I have a weak sig source on a halo in the garage that I can verify 2m system operation with. Beyond that I must depend upon beacons. The KA0EWQ EN15 (even though it is in a HORRID direction for me) is very dependable here. Since the reactivation of the WD9BGA EN53 beacon, it is only heard under very good conditions .. not like average conditions of the past. Those are the only beacons I can hear with any ease. The VE4, PUM, NT0V, N4PZ beacons are only heard under extraordinary band conditions. 


  I in general like a quick peak at a beacon freq and then move on. I have not really thought much about doing long term observations on beacon frequencies. Given my observations using Aircraft Sharp on 10GHZ ... using some beacon monitoring that can be "automated" could be of great interest, especially toward Chicago. WSPR is a very easy mode to use for this kind of observation, I would think. Two home stations interested in looking at a path for a few min/hr/day could be up and running in no time. The software and internet "interface" is there and being utilized by 100s all the time, mostly HF. 


  If anyone is interested in trying WSPR for short term observations, get in contact with me and we can see what might work. The station is configured around only 2 radios now, so operations can get very tied up with WSPR -- It requires continuous PC support. The frequency shift for WSPR is very small. The modulation scheme is::continuous phase 4-FSK, tone separation 1.4648 Hz Freq control needs to be pretty darn good. I'm really not sure what VHF and above bands here are stable enough.

  As per Glen's presentation Saturday, there are lots of other data modes out there to experiment with. Consider me as a possible 2nd station.


  An aside ... In conversation with Doug AA0AW (EN36vq Duluth) on 75m this morning, he said that he has a group that have been playing with PSK31 on 2m -- 144.060 if I recall correctly. They are using it to exchange FILEs ... thinking of emergency communications applications. Interesting




73  Bill  K0AWU