10 Meter beacon operators requested

There are several states and countries in IARU Region 2 that could use a 10 meter beacon (or beacons) for propagation indicators. Currently Arkansas, Wyoming, New Mexico, South Dakota, Mississippi, Delaware, and Vermont have no beacons (as far as we know). Are there any hams interested in setting up a simple 10 meter beacon, or know someone who would? Many people in the USA and worldwide operate 10 meter beacons and also listen for them, and many send in daily reports. It is very interesting and helpful to see where propagation is open by listening for these beacons. People are hearing beacons every day even at this bottom of the solar cycle. Most beacons only run from 1 watt to 10 watts and many are simply old 23-channel CB radios that have been converted to 10 meters, with an inexpensive keyer connected. The keyers can be found for around $15. There are many places in Region 2 which do not have a beacon, and it would be good to see these areas with a 10 meter propagation indicator. Again, if you would like to operate one, or know someone who would, please contact Bill Hays WJ5O at wj5o "at" troycable.net . Mr. Hays is the IARU Region 2 HF Beacon Coordinator.

For a map of USA and World 10-meter beacons, please see the following site:
http://userpages.troycable.net/~wj5o/YourBCN.htm

Here's a link to general information about 10 meters and simple 10 meter beacon projects:

http://userpages.troycable.net/~wj5o/

The following is a good article called "Exploring the World of Ten Meter Beacons" that recently appeared in The Monitoring Times:

http://monitoringtimes.com/MT-10meters.pdf

These are links to lists of the known 10 meter beacons worldwide:

http://www.mydarc.de/dl8wx/baken_kw.htm
http://userpages.troycable.net/~wj5o/bcn.htm

This is a link to a 10 meter beacon-spotter website and other information:

http://10mbeacons.com/beaconspot/spot90.php

There is also a beacon spotter email reflector with daily logs here:

http://www.explore.force9.co.uk/beacons/hfbeacons.htm

It would be very good to see some beacons in blank areas. There are many places in Central America, the Caribbean, and South America that need beacons: Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominican Repuclic, Haiti, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Columbia, Uruguay, Suriname, Falkland Islands, and the Galapagos Islands. We have received responses from a few of these countries already.

Thanks and 73!
Jeff KP3FT (KP3FT/B 28.222.5 Mhz)
Ponce, Puerto Rico

 

My 10m Beacon is on 28.2600Mhz. Power is 12 watts. QTH is Mena Arkansas.

73,

AD5KO

 

As a serious question, what is wrong with using Propnet?
http://hfradio.org/propnet-info.html

Andrew

 

Hi Andrew,
There's nothing wrong with it; it's another part of the beacon world and I hope it continues. I monitor it here sometimes and plan on setting up for transmitting sometime in the future. My post was mainly for the regular CW beacons that don't require any sort of decoding equipment, but there's no reason to exclude PropNet. The more the merrier...
73 Jeff KP3FT

 

I'm in Mississippi and very interested in establishing a 10 meter beacon here. I also just happen to have an old Royce 23 channel analog CB radio sitting in the closet. I haven't turned it on in over 15 years but the last time I used it, it worked. I may learn how to modify it, get an automatic keyer and build a simple vertical and stick it in a pine tree in the back yard, and put the beacon in the shed. I emailed Bill some questions, perhaps he'll be able to give me some help.

 

ARKANSAS NOW HAS A 10 METER BEACON AT 28.260 MHZ.

 

How did it sound, what sort of signal are you getting?

You can post beacon reports here:

Beacon Reports

73,

Andrew
AD5KO
28.260