New 30 Meter beacon

W0ERE 30 METER AMATEUR RADIO BEACON - New, On air October 13, 2009

Goal: This is purely experimental beacon and will not necessarily be permanent, depends on several factors. See below.

BEACON SPECS.

Call: W0ERE/B

Freq.: 10.1295 mHz C.W. Mode

Location: Highlandville, Mo. Grid EM36

Antenna: G5RV radiating E/W, Horizonal polarization. Other antennas are periodicly substituted

Elevation: 1340 Ft. above Sea Level

Power: 3 watts

Operation: Intermittent, Operator controlled, Experimental

There are very few beacons on 30 Mtrs due to at least two things that compound the situation..............Band being only 50 KHz wide, plus automatically controlled USA beacons not permitted under current FCC rules, which requires constant operator attention.

My Freq was coordinated with and approved by coordinator Station WJ5O.

I find 30 meters to be a fascinating band along with 10 and 17 which are my favorites.

The activity is marvelous on 30 even with variable solar activity that we are currently enduring.

I am amazed at the sig. rpts. I get, using several simple antennas which are easily constructed.
If you are a cw op and have not experimented on 30, I highly suggest to give it a go

I am using reference numbers to record certain condx at the time of transmission. If you could please indicate the reference numbers that you copy, I would appreciate it.
This ref no. could change at any time based on changes of various antennas, Directional patterns, Wx conds, power levels, ect. This is an experimental endeavor.

Please send me any reports on the beacon when & if you hear it.
I am very curious to find out the DX capabilities with QRP and a Simple Ant. System.

73,
Al
W0ERE

 

My 30 meter rig will arrive this week, and I will listen for your beacon signal.

Terry
KE5YUM

 

30MTR Digital

If you are a cw op and have not experimented on 30, I highly suggest to give it a go
Al,
The band is open to RTTY and other digital modes as well as CW. RTTY works outstanding on 30MTRS. I have worked tons of statesides/DX stations on the 30MTR band using FSK. Just about anyone can play on the 30MTR Band without any CW skills required. My choice is CW but RTTY can be quite fun. Good luck on the Beacon project.
73
Larry VQ9LA (N0QM)
Diego Garcia BIOT
See you in the pileups

 

30m Beacon

I read the section you wrote under "Goals" and saw none. As you mentioned, 30m is a small band, contest free, and CW only; I can't see any reason to waste space with a beacon on this well-used band.

 

CW only??????

 

30 Meter Beacon

Allan,

579 here in New Braunfels, Tx.

I have a bunch of fun on 30, especially during those infernal contests where the RTTY ops show up from nowhere, and take over the bottom of the bands, especially on 40.

Thank goodness that we have a place to operate that they can't touch.

73, Skip WB4DAD

 

Copying it right now in Franklin Lakes, NJ about 20 miles NW of NYC. Just above the noise level on peaks at 549. Really 449 due to QSB.

Nice going. I love 30M too.

 

What you need is WSPR. At any one time there are many manned WSPR transmitting and monitoring stations running on 30m.

At the time of writing there are 79 active with around 30 in the USA.
http://wsprnet.org/drupal/wsprnet/activity

See http://wsprnet.org/ and http://www.physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/

 

There's always one

You can't see any reason? Really?

How about because that is what he wants to do and it's legal, permitted and coordinated.


Chris - KC0TKS

 

That's nice that there's a new beacon on 30 meters. There's another beacon right at 10MHz. Better known as WWV.

 

One of the most useful "beacons" is not a beacon but the station DDK9 that is a German Maritime Weather Service station operating on 10100.8 kHz +/- 225 Hz mark/space FSK. It is located near Hamburg, Germany, and appears to provide reports 24/7. Another German one is the propogation beacon, DK0WCY, at 10144 kHz, that is not as strong as DDK9.

 

I always thought the purpose of having a beacon on a band was to indicate to listeners that a band they believe to be mostly lacking in activity, now has the possibility of a contact into that area.

The 30 metres band is now well used in Europe, and it appears the same situation exists in the US. I can assure anybody outside Europe that if we in Europe hear even the faintest DX call from anywhere in the world, there will be dozens of people calling that station !

Mel G0GQK

 

Jerry,

Thank you for your reply. You are absolutely correct, WWV, Fort Collins and other locations for WWV are excellent sources for propagation from their specific locations.

Ref. beacon uses, one purpose among others is to determine the location of the propogated RF signal to the listening station. Another words, the path.
You comment is well taken. Happy New year to you and 73, Al, W0ERE

 

Well taken sir.
I will ck into WSPR. Thank you for your interest and reply.

Happy New Year and 73,
Al W0ERE

 

Absolutely right. Though there are so many ops on 30m WSPR right now that another probably isn't going to add to the available propagation information.

Now a permanent WSPR beacon on 10m - that would be very useful!