Beacon Project "Common and Precious" (OFF air, 10.237,5kHz, 5W)

[Zazzle]

Hey,

YES! A reward! Finally! About two hours ago I could hear my own beacon in Enschede (NL, Europe) which is about 470km away. S5-S6.

http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/, 10237.74Mhz, CW-Narrow

That also means, that, yes, I was right. The Transmitter works fine. It just seems that it's not creating a local field but radiates into the room. I received the signal through a reflection (as it seems). This behaviour may be caused by the construction of the roof.

Anyway, now, that I know that it's working I have my motivation back. I'm going to have a look at it on the next weekend. Maybe I'm able to extend the poles about 1-2 meters, getting some distance between the Dipole and the roof construction.

Greetings,
~Zazzle

[ChrisSmolinski]

Congratulations!

I just checked via the Twente SDR, and could hear CW there as well.  I can try listening here in the USA, once it is later, and we might have better propagation on 30 meters.

[curious george]

Zazzle,

Check the Beacons forum, I think Chris and I have logged it here in the USA.  I can e-mail you an audio file, but I don't have an e-mail address for you.

[Zazzle]

Hi there,

 *bows* thank you for the reports. That just made my day.

Actually, I'm pondering to add a 5W Amp. Just for the heck of seeing how much the signal propagation would change. I see to this on the weekend. And, yeah, I'm all motivated now - since I know that it works properly.

Kind regards,
~Zazzle

[Zazzle]

Hi,

It's been some weeks again. But there's also news!

I couldn't resist and added a 5W PA. The system is operating again since last night. That fun and I was able to run several experiments with different filters. The actual one is way more reluctant to reflected power than the former one. Btw: the SWR is about 1:1.3, which is pretty neat.

Some funny impressions from last night:

• Jep! There's a security service visiting the old ruin every few hours during the night. But it's like with security shown in movies. They aren't quiet and thye drive around on the complex with headlights full on, like "hide, we're comming!"
• Gosh! I nearly died from an heart attack. There was a small flock of does hiding in the bushes and when I passed they ran away. About 5 Meters away. Waoa, shock!
• There was some (biiiig animal crawling in/on the support construction right under the roof. It was creeping the hell out of me (and I'm everything but a wussy). It ruefused to become quiet or go away even when I was stomping on the roof. Like some monster from the movies "I'm gonna geeeeeet you ~".

Edit: Oh, I put the antenna bit higher. Approx 5m above the roof by now.

Greetings,
~Zazzle

[ff]

• Jep! There's a security service visiting the old ruin every few hours during the night. But it's like with security shown in movies. They aren't quiet and thye drive around on the complex with headlights full on, like "hide, we're comming!"

LOL!  I'm sure security would rather find a place to nap than to find an intruder!  What current is the 5 watt amplifier drawing?  Does that kill the battery before dawn?  Good project Zazzle! 

[Zazzle]

Hey ff!

Thanks.

LOL!  I'm sure security would rather find a place to nap than to find an intruder!

Heh, seriously. If I were to catch intruders I'd either enter the areal with headlight off or wait hiden somewhere, all quiet and with lights off too, after I pretended to have left the ground.

What current is the 5 watt amplifier drawing?  Does that kill the battery before dawn?

920mA Key-Down. On on stanby it's approx 110mA. The oscilallator is running all the time. The PA-Driver (which is also the buffer) is keyed.

No Battery. It's grid powered. I just ran approx 70m of wire across a hidden path. Don't ask where I get the power from and I don't have to show you funny but ugly Photos.

Kind regards,
~Zazzle

[ChrisSmolinski]

Your beacon is just now starting to fade in, at 2120 UTC.

[Zazzle]

Hi there,

looks like there's an issue. It's consuming power but doesn't output RF. Going to check that on the upcomming weekend.

~Zazzle

[Zazzle]

Hey,

Odd. The SMPS PSU died. Looks like the transformer has gone short. Internal insulation fault. Anyway, not much of a deal. I'll replace it tomorrow.

Greetings,
~Zazzle

[Zazzle]

Hey there!

Fixed aaaaand back in operation. Hope that was the last issue for several months to come.

~Zazzle

[Zazzle]

Mornin,

I spend yesterday evening with reading a lot of stuff about "Regular Dipoles VS Inverted-V Dipoles". I'm left with the impression that there's no statement that can be trusted. One side says that an Inverted-V Antenna does, contraty to an regular Dipile, ratidate rather omnidirectional and in a lower angle. Other sources say that that a Dipole that isn't hung in a height that's at least 5x the wavelength, doesn't radiate directional (like it should) anyway.

I'm tempted to change Antenna configuration from "Regular Dipole" to "Inverted-V" but wonder what your opinions might be on that topic.

Kind regards,
~Zazzle.

[ak7v]

The main practical difference will be a change in feedpoint impedance.  An inverted vee is closer to the 50 ohms that most ham radio transmitters prefer (I'm not sure what your TX is looking for).  It's also usually easier to erect, so it's a popular configuration.  I've never heard of anyone intentionally putting a dipole 5x the wavelength high.  To me that seems excessive.  At 13Mhz putting the apex of an inverted vee up 30-40 feet is good for near-omni radiation at a reasonable take-off angle.  Beyond that you start getting into diminishing returns for the amount of effort.

If you want to get fancy, there is free antenna modeling software out there what will show you the radiation patterns of different configurations at different frequencies.  EZNEC and 4nec2 are examples.  Antenna theory is a deep and complex subject, but there are answers out there! 

[Zazzle]

Hey AK7V,

those are the most dominant traits, yes. The main reason for my question regards the angle in which the signal is radiated. In my case I don't have just a (wet) soild but a big steel based construction under the roof. Professional literature says one thing, lots of blogs/websites/foums say another thing so I was interested in more opinions. I guess the literature is more about the theoretical behaviour, not really paying attention to the environment (that has a big effect on the Antenna. Like feed point impedance and radiation angle).

Kind regards,
~Zazzle

[Zazzle]

Hey,

I changed the Antenna configuration from "Straight Dipole" to "Inverted V Dipole" last weekend. That was a good thing to do because the Beacon can now be heard in Enschede (WebSDR)  for a lot of hours each day with a strong signal of about S6. Sometimes even S7 and above.

Also the local field has improved, too. With my new (also Inverted V Antenna) in the backyard I get it with S9.

Made me quite happy. Now, let's wait for reports.

Kind greetings,
~Zazzle