Running A Beacon During Idle Time

• Introduction
• Beacon List
• Beacon Station
• If You Hear Me
• Activity Log

Introduction

I was playing radio the other day and copied a 10 metre beacon on 28.1995Mhz.  I copied VVV VE3IIM/B EN94 73.  Super strong, no QRM and nil QRN. 599. S Meter S1 to S3. I looked him up on QRZ (Tim Smith, Hanover, ON N4N 2R5 Canada) and responded to his request for reception reports. 

He responded and we had a nice email chat. Tim was very helpful and gave me some useful research links. 

This gave me the idea of running my own beacon using my ICOM 7300 memory keyer capability. I setup a memory of VVV DE W7YV/B W7YV/B DN40 K with a 4 second repeat interval.

I am sending this on 10M or 20M. Have not tried 40 or 80, yet, due to antenna issues.

The results are intriguing. I was contacted by Jerry, AC5JM, the IARU Region 2 HF Beacon Coordinator informing me that I was not using a coordinated frequency. He provided a list of "clear channel" beacon frequencies and I chose 28.2365 MHz for my 10M beacon frequency. 

Tim gave me another idea. Last week his 10m beacon was heard by ZL7DX Chatham Island, east of New Zealand. He went to the online receivers, found one down that way, and listened live to his beacon. He said it was lots of fun checking on this propagation..

Wideband Worldwide Shortwave Receiver Map

References:

1) https://listof10mbeacon.blogspot.com/2023/06/worldwide-list-of-10-meter-beacon.html

2) Wideband Worldwide Shortwave Receiver Map

3) List of Shortwave Beacons Worldwide

Beacon List

FCC Regulations

It was pointed out to me by Ron WB9YZU that operation of an "automated beacon" is not allowed on bands below 10M. This was a new learning experience for me. I verified this using Perplexity.ai and got quite a tongue lashing!

I had been running a beacon on 14.058 MHz during nighttime in the US. As a result of this new information, my beacons will be at 10M or higher in frequency.

The following lists the beacons I am running or plan to run. I will stick to these schedules as much as possible, however, if the rig is needed for other work, the beacons will be turned off. Hopefully, one day, I'll have a dedicated transmitter on 10M.

Band	Frequency
80 M	Not allowed
40 M	Not allowed
20 M	Not allowed
10 M	28.2365 MHz Coordinated by IARU Region 2 HF Beacon. Starts around 1200Z and ends around 0230Z. Rig is an ICOM 7300 running 5 watts into a 20M vertical that is tuned to 10M.
6 M	Pending
2 M	144.281 MHz. New implementation. Sporadic operation. ICOM 7100 running 20 W into 2M/70 cm vertical up 15 ft. Being heard by http://websdr3.sdrutah.org:8903/index1a.html, a WebSDR located near Corinne, Utah, about 80 miles (94km) north of Salt Lake City and about 14 miles (23km) east of the Golden Spike National Historic Site. The ICOM 7100 is an all-band rig and could be adapted to other beacons. The problem is the antenna!

Beacon Station

If You Hear Me

If you hear one of my beacons, please let me know by email or via comments here. My email address is available on https://www.qrz.com/db/W7YV. It is always fun to hear from others that listen to beacons. 

When I was a youngster (1958 ish), I would spend hours copying beacons in front of an old Attwater Kent shortwave radio. It was difficult due to noise and not knowing Morse Code at the time (8 years old). I sent lots of reception reports and received lots of QSL cards.

Activity Log

03/12/2025 2343Z Very poor response from the RBM to my 29.2365 MHz beacon. In 5 hours, from 1502 to 2343Z *8hr 41min), only two stations responded. HI and Costa Rica. Only 23 spots Current solar conditions are Kp 5. A G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm levels are expected on 12 Mar due to prolonged periods of southward Bz.
See https://www.perplexity.ai/search/today-the-kp-index-is-5-my-10-8_4QSa61Raezd7F9ttnH6w#0