BG08ct
During our recent E51 EME Dxpedition, Lance W7GJ and I visited Victor E51CG ...
 Victor has recently moved to a new QTH on the northern side of the island with a good view out over the Pacific Ocean towards North America, Asia and the South Pacific in general. While thoroughly checking the quality and depth of a bottle of duty free Rum, we chatted with with Victor about many things ... including the possibilty of installing a 6M beacon on the island of Rarotonga (a.k.a "Raro") where he lives. While Victor was willing to have the beacon at his house, he had no 6M radio. At least he had a Cushcraft A50-5 five element 6M yagi, so he was 1/2 way there! On his return to the USA Lance made enquiries and Jim KS7S kindly donated an Icom IC-706 which I took with me when I returned to Raro in August. Thanks Jim! During that August trip Victor and I installed his tower and upgraded the A50-5 6M yagi with the W5WVO modifications. There are some photos of the new antenna installation on Victor's qrz.com listing. A 6M beacon was provided by N3DB and the The 6M Beacon Project, Inc. from the USA as part of their world wide 6M beacon project, but unfortunately there was a problem with delivery and it didn't make it to NZ in time for the August trip. I'll be taking it to Raro in November along with a 6M yagi for Warwick E51WL who is back on Penrhyn attol in the Northern Cook Islands (separate DXCC entity). Beacon details: Callsign - E51USA Location - Rarotonga, South Cook Islands Grid locator - BG08ct Frequency - 50.051 MHz Power - 20W Antenna - Halo Hours of Operation - 1900UTC - 0700UTC The Beacon Installation - 19 Nov 2009 The E51USA/b beacon transmitter consists of a Motorola Maxar 80 2-way radio mounted on a wooden base with a small Switch Mode Power Supply and cooling fan. Due to the high cost of electricity in the Cook Islands, the beacon is running on a time switch and is only operational for 12 hours a day from 1900 UTC until 0700 UTC. 
Initially we ran the beacon into the 5 element 6M yagi at 58 feet high on Victor's tower, but finally installed the 6M Halo antenna supplied by the Beacon Project Group with the beacon. The halo is fixed to the tower at about 36 feet (11 meters) above ground and fed with about 70 feet (24 meters) of RG-213 coaxial cable. 
During the first few days since installation, the beacon has been heard in several Pacific Island countries as well as in New Zealand at 3000+ km. Many thanks to the following for their input: Dave N3DB and the The 6M Beacon Project, Inc. for supplying the beacon and Halo antenna. Chris ZL2DX for the 12V Switch Mode Power Supply. Victor E51CG/E51USA for hosting the beacon. Update 26 Nov 2009 - Some selected spots from VKlogger.com ... 21-Nov-09 21:29 VK2ZQ >> E51USA in BG08CT on 50.0510 BCN 529 > QF55KP @ 5019.8km 86° 21-Nov-09 20:45 VK2APG >> E51USA in BG08CT on 50.0510 BCN 569 > QF55DI @ 5078.6km 87° 22-Nov-09 00:56 ZL2TPY >> E51USA in BG08CT on 50.0510 BCN 449 > RF70CV @ 3176.3km 59° 22-Nov-09 03:56 VK4CZ >> E51USA in BG08CT on 50.0510 BCN 419 > QG62LP @ 4820.9km 93° 23-Nov-09 23:10 VK4CP >> E51USA/B in BG08CT on 50.0510 BCN 579 > QG62LK @ 4817.5km 92° 24-Nov-09 00:13 VK7XX >> E51USA/B in BG08CT on 50.0510 BCN 519 > QE38NQ @ 5425.3km 83° 24-Nov-09 00:31 VK3AUU >> E51USA/B in QE38NQ on 50.0510 BCN 429 > QF21WT @ 5499.1km 86° 24-Nov-09 00:38 ZL4AS >> E51USA/B on 50.0500 BCN 419 > RE43VT @ 3906.4km 55° And some fairly happy customers ... 22-Nov-09 00:12 VK5BC >> E51CG in BG08CT on 50.1150 SSB 51 > PF95JJ @ 6135.0km 93° tks for 5/5 Victor 24-Nov-09 00:24 VK7XX >> E51CG in BG08CT on 50.1050 SSB 51 > QE38NQ @ 5425.3km 83° yeeeeeeeeee hhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Great Circle Map centered on Rarotonga, Cook Islands, BG08ct 
(from GCMWin software by SM3GSJ) |