Propagation Beacons are useful to monitor band openings. There is very little weak signal VHF/UHF activity in my area so I am committed to getting some beacons up on the air to promote interest in the privileges we hams have in this part of the spectrum. I have plans for a beacon station near the family repeater site 8 miles SSW of Deer Park, WA.. I have most of the equipment assembled for beacon transmitters on 10, 6, 2 meters and 430 mhz. 10 meters allows for worldwide DX so the 10 meter station has the potential of being heard around the world. 6 meter has potential for DX also but not quite as often. 2 meters and 70 cm have potential for DX out to 1000 miles and that is quite exciting. I don't know of any 2 meter or 70 cm beacons in Eastern WA so these may be the first. I plan to use the beacons to monitor the path between my home QTH and my work QTH near Tacoma WA. Also it will be interesting to hear my own beacon stations from the many cities I layover in across the U.S.
Here is the proposed station:
10 Meter Beacon: Realistic HTX-100 SSB/CW transceiver at 5 watts into a 5/8 wave Ground plane. Proposed Freqency - 28.238.5 mhz.
6 Meter Beacon: Santec 6 meter SSB/CW HT at 2 watts into a loop antenna. Proposed Freqency - 50.079 mhz.
2 Meter Beacon: AEA 10 meter SSB/CW HT at 2 watts as an IF for a MMT 28/144 transverter at 10 watts into a 2 meter loop antenna. Proposed Freqency - 144.297 mhz.
70cm Beacon: Icom 451A all mode transceiver (receiver inop) at 10 watts into a set of stacked loop antenna. Proposed Freqency - 432.320.
The only thing I am waiting on to get these beacons on the air is a CW ID Keyer. I have to get around to building one. The plan is to have 1-3 different keyers for the beacons. If I am able to have one keyer connected to 2 or more transmitters at the same time I will do that. If the interfere with on another and I am not able to isolate any cross modualtion among the transmitters I will have more than one keyer and keyed at different times to reduce cross interference. Another idea is to have one keyer and then have it swithed to each tranmitter for a ID sequence and then the keyer will move on to the next band. Also needed is the loop antennas (or suitable equivilents) for 6 meters, 2 meters and 70 cm. The antenna and power supply are already installed for the 10 meter beacon so as soon as I have a keyer solution the 10 meter beacon will be the first one on the air.
Please stay posted to these pages to find out the status of WA7RF/B.