2008-08-03
The 80 Metre Beacon experiment has been running on and off for more than a month now, time to summarise all the reports I've received.
I would like to sincerely thank all the stations that sent in reports. Your contributions have made this experiment very rewarding.
I'll be continuing tests on an intermittent basis and have reprogrammed the beacon keyer to include my location in the message and to send at only 10 WPM which should be more robust with QSB. The beacon now emits a stable 30 second carrier between message bursts for signal level and frequency measurement purposes. I hope in the future to undertake some A/B switched antenna comparison experiments in a similar manner to this beacon experiment. I'm also interested in any stations that would like to assist with Pedersen Ray Doppler experiments using an ultra-stable beacon and long-term digital recording of the beacon signal.
| Date/Time | Name | Call | Location | Report | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 June 2008 22:30 AEST |
Peter Marx | VK2TPM | Killarney Heights 33.7796S, 151.220277E |
Barely perceptible | First sked reception using very poor antenna at my end |
| 27 June 2008 09:10 AEST |
Peter Marx | VK2TPM | Killarney Heights 33.7796S, 151.220277E |
Readable through S6 noise | |
| 27 June 2008 18:47 AEST |
Peter Marx | VK2TPM | Killarney Heights 33.7796S, 151.220277E |
Much improved after dark | |
| 2 July 2008 20:05 AEST |
Peter Marx | VK2TPM | Killarney Heights 33.7796S, 151.220277E |
Significant QSB, clicks audible | New antenna loading inductor increased performance from absolutely pathetic to an estimated efficiency of around 0.3-1.7 percent |
| 3 July 2008 04:00 AEST |
Greg Smith | VK2CW | Merewether Heights 32.937306S, 151.734324E |
Hi Alan, heard your 80m beacon 4am 3 July 08 in Newcastle. RST 559 | First non-sked reception by another HAM |
| 7 July 2008 18:43 AEST |
Peter Marx | VK2TPM | Killarney Heights 33.7796S, 151.220277E |
Wow! a massive improvement. There is a ton of noise around this evening, sounds like TV sets but you are cutting through very well. | New vertical antenna, efficiency now at least a few percent |
| 13 July 2008 07:30 UTC |
Paul | VK2GPG | Wauchope 31.4404S, 152.7072E QF68in |
Heard your beacon Alan 13.7.08, 7:30 UTC, RST 5/5/9 from Wauchope NSW. Grid QF68IN. | |
| 17 July 2008 17:47 UTC |
Ron Summerton | VK5AKR | Tanunda 34.527764S, 138.953823E |
Hello Alan, I am listening to your beacon - 1747z (0318hrs local) Thursday 17th July 2008. RST 439. Very stable signal. Sounds very good indeed. Just while listening now the beacon is increasing in strength - QSB. My equipment - FT817ND, T1 Tuner and 35 meters of wire. QTH Tanunda - 70km NE Adelaide | First VK5 Report. |
| 18 July 2008 09:00-20:00 UTC |
Tony Fletcher | ZL2ALJ | Wellington, New Zealand 41.33564S, 174.776768E |
Heard your 3579 khz beacon this morning Friday at 1800 UTC - rst 539. Floor noise here s2 - qrn crashes s5-s8. Still copying at 1840UTC at 539 with qsb/qrn. Comparison sigs - - VK6SH Perth 429 qsb/qrn - and VK2WI slow morse 579. Detailed report Tony gave me later: 0900 utc - just audible - odd characters - no real copy Sat morn 1800utc 539 qsb/qrn - - qrn at s9 1830 ditto 1900 539 qsb/qrn and ssb qrm 1930 ditto 2000 529 ditto Even with VK net ssb qrm I was able to pull you through R5 using a bit of IF shift and outboard audio filter. Perfect R5 copy. |
First reception from across the ditch in New Zealand. Resulting from announcement of beacon experiment on QRP-L |
| 18 July 2008 10:50 AEST |
Joergen Olesen-Jensen | VK2KJJ | Wagga Wagga 35.1446S, 147.357162E |
I was listening to your beacon today friday 18th july, at 10.50 to 11.30 AEST, with signal rprt RST 519, with qsb to be almost disappeared in the staticnoise, but well done for the qrpp beacon. | |
| 18 July 2008 15:38 AEST |
Henk Tobbe | VK2GWK | One Mile 32.776398S, 152.110377E |
Signal strength S3 - S5 in One Mile. Receiver FT1000 with amp1 on. Ant: half wave dipole as inv V | |
| 18 July 2008 20:39 AEST |
John Kirk | VK4TJ | Toowoomba 27.647453S, 151.953009E |
No surprise, it is in here in Toowoomba with pretty decent signal strength. I have a carrier locally only a 100 Hz or so away from that frequency which makes listening to it pretty miserable, but it is definitely you. | First VK4 report. |
| 18 July 2008 21:33 AEST |
Charlie Loomis | VK2ZYZ | Wauchope 31.466858S, 152.722203E |
QTH is Wauchope, NSW. I hear your beacon loud and clear, well actually RST 459. | Complained about QRMing the colourburst frequency, shifted beacon to 3.581 MHz to help him out. |
| 19 July 2008 09:00 UTC |
Tony Fletcher | ZL2ALJ | Wellington, New Zealand 41.33564S, 174.776768E |
RST 429 | |
| 19 July 2008 17:00 AEST |
Gilbert McDavid | VK3QS | Nagambie 36.783S, 145.133E |
RST 569 with QRN | Gil sent me a nice WIA QSL card. |
| 19 July 2008 23:30 UTC |
Phil Pavey | VK3YB | Cranbourne 38.078379S, 145.288192E |
Nice signal tonight 50km SE of Melbourne. | First VK3 report. |
| 19 July 2008 15:22 AEST |
Peter Marx | VK2TPM | Killarney Heights 33.7796S, 151.220277E |
Beacon sounds very good today (3pm). S6 at the moment. | |
| 20 July 2008 18:00 UTC |
Tony Fletcher | ZL2ALJ | Wellington, New Zealand 41.33564S, 174.776768E |
1800utc 539 amid s9 static. Signal readable on the half hour till 2000utc no ssb sigs heard but did copy VK4EDN cw/net higher. At 2100utc just before our local club net there was nil signal heard. | |
| 31 July 2008 17:00 UTC |
Ian McKinnon | VK2XF | North Albury 36.059508S, 146.918777E |
Good signal this morning Allan. Time 1700 utc 31/7/08. signal 589. QTH Albury and just listening with end fed 1/4 wave wire favouring north/south. | |
| 2 August 2008 08:30 UTC |
Deane Blackman | VK3TX | Narre Warren North 37.981957S, 145.315132E |
Stumbled on your beacon on about 3.58MHz around 0830Z this evening. Deep QSB, but peaking around S3. The RX ant here is a top-loaded vert. | |
| 4 August 2008 17:47 UTC |
Ron Summerton | VK5AKR | Tanunda 34.527764S, 138.953823E |
Hello Alan, This is my second report to you. I am listening to your beacon again - 1447z (0018hrs local) Monday 4th August 2008. RST 479. Very stable signal. Still sounds very good. QSB. My equipment - FT817ND, T1 Tuner and 35 meters of wire. QTH Tanunda - 70km NE Adelaide. I have listened several (many) times since my first report. Signals have been variable between strength 2 and strength 7. Good work for 1.5W and base loaded whip Alan.73. Ron VK5AKR |
|
| 5 August 2008 18:19 AEST |
Kim Hawtin | VF5FNET | Mount Barker |
I've been listening to a cw beacon on 3.579Mc for some time. I found your site by searching the frequency and its the only one I can find thats remotely close. Soon when I can actually copy CW I might be able to confirm its your beacon =) I've only been an F-call for a couple of months, there is amazing amount of stuff to learn =) The only time of day that I've had any success hearing it is in the afternoon, but the noise is quite amazing at the moment. |
|
| 8 August 2008 23:00 WST |
David Isele | VF6DI | Mount Helena 31.860073 S, 116.20942E OF88cd |
I came across your beacon page quite by accident, so I decided to take a quick listen. I heard you immediately, at about 2300 local time. Your signal was peaking -85 dBm using my 250M E-W long wire and an SDR-IQ receiver. I have a 10 dB attenuator ahead of my RX and it's Pre-amp is switched off to prevent ADC overload from a very strong local NDB. As my noise was running -105 dBm you were not the best of copy when QSB reduced your signal periodically, but your callsign was easily readable. | David included screenshots from his SDR software and some details on his 30 m QRSS beacon work. David has a great weak-signals related website. David's is the first VK6 report, and comes from 3296 km distant. This is the furthest report so far, beating out the 2225 km report from Tony ZL2ALJ. |
3 comments.
| title | type | size |
|---|---|---|
| VK6DI Recording | audio/mpeg | 478.618 kbytes |
Parent article: 80 Metre CW Beacon.