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K5DZE/B CURRENT STATUS
As of 7 NOV 2008 The Beacon is down. Blew the ID-O-Matic - Have new one to assemble - Back up soon!
The K5DZE/B 10 Meter Beacon operates on 28.228 MHz ~18-24 hours daily, and transmits a CW signal at 18 WPM as an aid to check 28 MHz propagation.
RIG: Here are the details about K5DZE/B: XMTR: HTX-100 PWR: 5 watts FREQ: 28.228 MHz KEYER: Microprocessor (ID-O-MATIC from N0XAS) @ 18 wpm MSG sending: VVV K5DZE/B K5DZE/B EM78 EM78 ANT: "Hamstick" Vertical whip at 14' feet. QSL: Beacon reports direct or by email K5DZEX at XARRLX . NET (Drop the x's...these are for the spam bots!)
Click to Enlarge The HTX-100 Beacon. Keyer is on top of rig and is built into a cassette tape box. Note muffin fan suspended on wire frame over the cooling fins of the rig. This keeps the HTX-100 from even getting warm!
THE WORLD OF 10 METER CW BEACONS - Probably not well known to a great many Amateur Operators, particularly relatively new operators, unattended low-power Beacons are permitted by the FCC (and other countries) for the primary purpose of providing signals from various locations to show when propagation will support DX communications. To explain the need for this, have you ever tuned across 10 meters and heard nothing, only to change bands to look for signals elsewhere? Sure you have...we all have. Well if you think about it, what if everyone just listened without transmitting and then switched to 20 meters thinking the band was not open? We could easily tune across the band and hearing no signals we would QSY when in fact the band was really wide open! This where the low power 10 meter CW Beacon comes in. Running unattended in the 10 meter Beacon Band either part-time or 24/7 and signing a CW call sign and grid locator QTH signal, these little rigs provide a marker signal that allows other operators to tune to these known freqs to see if the band is open and if so, to/from what area. If you don't copy CW very well or maybe not at all, remember these signals are automatically sent and constantly repeated. Most speeds are slow to moderate so you can hear them over and over till you get all the info correctly. (Very slow CW is usually not done since QSB (signal fade) can cause you to miss part of the signal over and over.) You may think that small low-powered rigs would not provide much of a signal to let us spot an open band, but it is a common knowledge to those who are familiar with 10 meters, that when the band is open, you can work all over the world on very little power and only a modest antenna. Most 10 meter Beacons run no more than 5 watts, with many running 1-2 watts and some even a fraction of a watt! (You will be surprised at well you can copy these flea powered rigs!) With this brief background in mind, what follows below is a description of my 10 Meter Beacon station and more information on how this all works, what gear can be used, and how you can participate either with a Beacon of your own or just better use existing beacons on 10 meters. If you hear my Beacon on 10 meters, drop me a QSL (snail mail or email). I will look forward to hearing from you!
QTH: My beacon is located in Union, Kentucky (EM78qw) which is about 18 miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio.
QSL: I QSL for all cards received. Upon request, I also gladly reply with an email QSL to any email beacon report so you can print these out for a speedy QSL reply! Mailing address on QRZ.com. Like most Hams, beacon ops (including me!) really like to know if their beacon is getting out and to where, so please drop them (us) an email or a QSL when you copy one. It will be appreciated.
BEACON FREQS: The “Beacon Band” is actually a range of frequencies running from 28.200 to 28.300 MHz, although you can hear some non-US Amateur Radio beacons down perhaps to 28.175 MHz or lower. The purpose of all these beacons is to help operators world wide determine if the band is open and if so, to where. Beacons often identify their location by a grid designator such as EM78 with a few giving an even more specific location such as EM78QS. Some give their power output and other info as well. This is sent in CW at speeds mostly between 10 and 20 WPM. Since deep QSB is often a factor in copying a beacon, a faster, shorter message is usually easier to copy than a slower, longer message. My beacon operates at 18 wpm for this reason. The message is very short and easy to pick up again if you miss any of it. By FCC Regulation, amateur beacons from 28 MHz up can be 'unattended'. (Some other HF bands are OK for beacons, but must have a control operator present when they are on the air.) I monitor my beacon daily. While 6 meters is often called “the magic band”, 10 meters can also be very “magical” in its own right. When 10 meters 'opens' you can talk all over the world with very little power and fairly simple antennas. Copying a CW beacon running 1/2 watt or less is not uncommon. The key to good communication on 10 meters is to know when the band is open. Many amateurs tune across 10 meters, but hear nothing so they leave to find more activity on another band. However, if no one transmits and we all are just listening, then the band sounds ‘dead’ when it may in fact be 'open'. A great deal of the time at this period of the solar cycle, the band does indeed appear mostly 'dead', but openings do occur and often and these can provide good QSOs and a lot of fun if you can catch one. The QRP beacons are particularly fun to catch. A good time to listen is at sunrise and sunset, but the band can open at any time. The 10 meter beacons operated by many Amateurs can help everyone know when these openings take place and in which directions the band will support your QSOs. So if you copy a beacon pretty well from a specific area, fire up your rig and get on the air to see if you can make a contact into that area. You might be pleasantly surprised! If you are interested in setting up a beacon, first of all do your homework. Visit as many beacon web sites as you can. Start with WJ5O and his site (listed below). To select a frequency, you should look to see who is on it using WJ5O's current beacon list. Monitor it for a couple of weeks to see who/what you might hear. Simple courtesy dictates that you don't want to QRM someone else, plus what good is a beacon parked on top of another beacon.? Next you might drop a note of coordination to the IARU Region 2 HF Beacon Coordinator, WJ5O. WJ5O doesn't "grant" beacon freqs, but he helps everyone avoid traffic jams and QRM. Again, see his excellent site for more info. http://userpages.troycable.net/~wj5o
BEACON RIGS: Rigs used for continuous beacon work can be a simple homebrew 10 meter transmitter, a modified CB rig, or one of the various 10 meter only CW/SSB/AM rigs available at Hamfests or eBay. Amateurs seem to be divided about 50-50 between modified CB rigs and 10 meter Amateur transceivers. The absolute best rig is... whatever works for you! The 10 meter band has of course had somewhat poor propagation for the past year or so, but it is picking up. The positive side is that right now there is a lot of 10 meter gear on the market at good prices since not many folks want gear they can' t immediately use. When the solar cycle starts up and 10 meters begins to get really good, so too will equipment prices climb! Now is a good time to assemble your 10 meter station. In particular, there are a lot of 10 meter rigs that make excellent mobile rigs. These install and take up no more room than a 2 meter rig but let you catch band openings to work DX from the car as well as letting you check your beacon anytime you are in your car. Used equipment such as a Radio Shack (HTX-100) or Uniden HR2510 are pretty easy rigs to find and these make excellent beacon and/or mobile rigs at a very low price. Watch eBay and the ARRL Classified On-Line ads for such gear and shop carefully to get a good rig for your beacon and your car. For continuous use as a beacon, the advice from those who have been doing this for a long time is to crank the power down to 3 or 4 watts and consider using a muffin fan to help the rig and power supply stay cool and last a long time. (Some rigs have run 24/7 for YEARS without failing! Talk about getting your money's worth!) I would add to this that you should tune the rig and the antenna for optimum performance on the beacon frequency you select. Since you aren't moving up and down the band, you can tune the antenna for exactly where you want to park. A vertical polarized antenna is probably the best approach to give you an omni-directional coverage. However, beacons are a neat way to check out some different antenna set ups and you can run the test antenna for 30 days non-stop!
KEEP A BEACON LOG: It’s a good idea to keep a log of what beacons you hear. You may decide later to see how many beacons you have copied or someone may ask if anyone has copied such and such a beacon and a simple log sheet makes it easy to go back. To do this, you might use a computer to keep a log, or use it to make up a log sheet designed for just what you need and just as you want to log it. I like spaces for the Beacon Frequency first, followed by the Call Sign, Signal Report, Time/Date, Notes/Condx and a check box for QSL Sent Y/N. This is a bit different from a regular Ham Log, but it will help you find out if you have heard that station before by quickly referencing the frequency first and then looking at the call sign the call sign. The WJ5O web site has a very helpful list of active beacons that will help you know who you are hearing and where they are located. Bill keeps the list very current which makes is very useful. I print a copy and keep it by the rig for fast reference. Check it out at: www.qsl.net/wj5o/bcn.htm
10 METERS - UPDATE - [ NOV - 2008 UPDATE ] The new current Cycle 24 is showing signs to be kicking off at long last. On 31 OCT 08 there was a "flurry" of sunspots and David Hathaway of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center says there is a significant increase in sunspot activity at last. While there will be quiet periods yet to come, it appears we have passed solar minimum at last according to the NASA scientists. Watch for the HF bands to start to return to use for DX purposes. All this means that the 10m band should also slowly begin to improve and good conditions will hopefully start to return in the coming months. Now is still the time to get your 10-10 number and to get your 10 meter gear tuned up and ready to go. As the conditions begin to improve in the coming months, it will both interesting and fun to listen for 10 Meter Beacons across the country and from around the world.
LEARN MORE: Interested in getting more info about 10 Meter Beacons? May I suggest you use your favorite browser and look for “Ten Meter Beacons” or “Beacon Station List” or similar subjects on the Internet. There is a world of info and some neat Beacon sites out there and most of them have links to help you along. There is also an excellent HF Beacon Reflector used by Beacon Operators to send reports , comments, or news items to the Beacon community. You can check it out at: http://www.explore.force9.co.uk/beacons/hfbeacons.htm Here are just a couple of links to get you going... http://userpages.troycable.net/~wj5o http://www.ncdxf.org/beacon/beaconSchedule.html
FCC REGS CONCERNING BEACON OPERATIONS: §97.203 Beacon station. (a) Any amateur station licensed to a holder of a Technician, Technician Plus, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operator license may be a beacon. A holder of a Technician, Technician Plus, General, Advanced or Amateur Extra Class operator license may be the control operator of a beacon, subject to the privileges of the class of operator license held. (b) A beacon must not concurrently transmit on more than 1 channel in the same amateur service frequency band, from the same station location. (c) The transmitter power of a beacon must not exceed 100 W. (d) A beacon may be automatically controlled while it is transmitting on the 28.20-28.30 MHz, 50.06-50.08 MHz, 144.275-144.300 MHz, 222.05-222.06 MHz, or 432.300-432.400 MHz segments, or on the 33 cm and shorter wavelength bands. (e) Before establishing an automatically controlled beacon in the National Radio Quiet Zone or before changing the transmitting frequency, transmitter power, antenna height or directivity, the station licensee must give written notification thereof to the Interference Office, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, P.O. Box 2, Green Bank, WV 24944.
(f) A beacon must cease transmissions upon notification by an EIC (Engineer-In-Charge) that the station is operating improperly or causing undue interference to other operations. The beacon may not resume transmitting without prior approval of the EIC. (g) A beacon may transmit one-way communications.
You will find that it’s not hard to set up a beacon station and in doing so you may provide some real assistance to your fellow Amateurs, so why not join in and make this a fun project? Meanwhile, tune around and see what beacons you can hear!
QRZ? - WHO IS ON 10 METERS NOW? To see what beacon stations are currently being heard on 10 Meters, I recommend a visit to the KI4KQQ 10 Meter Spotter Page that can be found at http://10mbeacons.com/ . Here, operators post what beacon is being heard from where and by whom. It may help you see what areas are coming through and what condition the band is in from various locations. This helpful page is maintained by KI4KQQ who also provides a list of beacon ops who offer web pages like the one you are reading now. You can access this list of web pages by also going to KI4KQQ's Spotter Page noted above.
Lastly, some Beacon Ops call "CQ" or listen around 28.327 USB at the top of every hour when the band is open and beacons are coming thru. Please give a listen and I hope you will join the gang on 10m as conditions permit! Good luck and good DX!
10-10 # 72596
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