High Frequency Beacon
From HFUnderground
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| 27500 || 38 Voice || Greenland || USB voice ID "38 voice beacon" || | | 27500 || 38 Voice || Greenland || USB voice ID "38 voice beacon" || | ||
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| - | | 27500 || 153RT007 || Thailand || CW QRP Beacon 27.5 MHz 27.500 MHz || | + | | 27500 || 153RT007 || Thailand || CW QRP Beacon 27.5 MHz [[11_meter#Freeband_11_Meter_Frequencies|27.500 MHz]] || |
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| 27501 || 2KP || Kansas || 25 watt power CW ID 2KP || | | 27501 || 2KP || Kansas || 25 watt power CW ID 2KP || | ||
Revision as of 16:12, 16 July 2021
High Frequency Beacon is a colloquial term for an unlicensed radio beacon that does not follow government regulations for operation (such as Part 15), and is technically illegal. Unlicensed HF beacons which operate legally, according to rules for low power transmissions are classified as HiFERs. See also: data link networks and RC systems in the 26-28 MHz or 11 meter band region that operate as de facto beacons. These systems may be found primarily on 26995, 27045, 27095, 27145, 27195 and 27255 kHz but numerous other frequencies are used worldwide.
There is a separate list of Part 15 Beacons
Contents |
Description
There are many of these beacons, quite a few are run as propagation experiments. Due to their nature, the exact location of these stations is generally not published, although many are believed to operate from remote locations in the deserts of the southwest USA. Likewise, these stations tend to suddenly appear and disappear from the air. Most run with very low power levels of just hundreds or even tens of milliwatts of power, and are often solar powered, so they can be hidden in open areas. Some are switched via a photocell, so they only operate at night, running off of a battery that is charged during the daytime by a solar panel.
There is a message board where listeners can report reception of beacons, it is also useful to see what other folks are presently hearing:
Reported High Frequency Beacons
| Freq (kHz) | Station ID | Location | Operation Notes | Last reported |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1654.95 | PRV | Preveza, Greece | Op: SW6HMU, QSL via sw6hmu@yahoo.gr (Source: ndblist). | April 15, 2012 |
| 2008.4 | Dits | Nevada USA | (CW ditter 130 mW) N/S dipole, battery power, night only. Approximate CW timing: 191 millisecond dit duration, 1.55 second repetition, 1.5 minute ON cycle, 3 minute OFF cycle [1] | December 27, 2018 |
| 2097 | A | Arizona | (15 watts) - 'A' ident or malfunctions as series of dits - 15 watts max., 10 second repetition, 24/7 [2] | September 14, 2018 |
| 3450 | OK | OK | (Source: HF Underground Forum [3]) (Youtube video) | January 5, 2012 |
| 3579.7 | "HPY NEW YEAR 2010 DE PIRATE BEACON” & dashes. December 28, 2010. (4) | 2010 | ||
| 3810 | SV1TEST | Athens, Greece (KM18VB) | no further info. (Source: UDXF) | |
| 4056 | dasher | Reported on March 11, 2011 by bryan24230 | ||
| 4062 | C | SW, probably CA | Very drifty, but slow drift, logged form 4052 to 4063. Its morse is not timed correcctly, it is probably sending a C with a short first dah (longer than dit, shorter than dah), but it could be an ER with a long dit, or a TR with a short dah. 24/7 | |
| 4078.14 | WW | Colorado | 300-400 mW Inverted L night time only | |
| 4077.27 | MO | Oklahoma | Solar 200 mW 118ft end fed wire 24/7 (Youtube video) | |
| 4079.7 | TMPnnn | SW Arizona | The TEMPERATURE BEACON - Temperature in deg. F. - sends 'TMP' then 2 - 3 digit temp. in CW every 10 seconds. 1 watt [4] | March 4, 2012 |
| 4089 | . | Death Valley N.P. | About 80 dits/minute, 24/7, 500 mW to inv. vee. dipole | |
| 4091 | DM | N. America | No further info (Source: HF Underground Forum) | August 11, 2011 |
| 4094.2 | PA | Arkansas | Solar power 200 mW Dipole 24/7 | |
| | WV | | ||
| 4096 | ......_ | VA | 6 dots 1 dash | March 24, 2012 |
| 4096.1 | Dasher | Joshua Tree N.P. | 4.5 sec long dashes (about 13 dashes per min.) - big signal - north-facing dipole ('Coxie') 24/7 | March 24, 2012 |
| 4096.25 | Dasher | Joshua Tree N.P. | 1 sec dash (about 30 per min.), 400 mW to inverted vee, 24/7 ('Hexie') [5] [6] | April 6, 2013 |
| 4096.6 | Dasher | Mojave Nat. Preserve | 2 sec. dash (about 16 per minute) 400 mW to inverted vee, 24/7 ('Kelsie') [7] | March 24, 2012 |
| 4097.2 | Dasher | Inyo County, CA near DVNP | 55 dashes per minute with chirp when sun is low; day-only, at 5300 ft. elevation ('Inyo-whooper'), inv. vee., 0.5w | |
| 4097.4 | KX | "KX" ten times, then "TEMP IN F", then the temp (three times) inside the enclosure, then "TEMP OUT F", and the outside temp, again three times. | ||
| 4098.2 ~ 4104+ | ZN | Western USA | Drifts up to 4104+ kHz during daylight hours, drifts down to 4098 kHz just after sunset, ZN sometimes heard run together like a prosign with an extra dash between the Z and N: "dah-dah-di-di-dah-dah-dit" or --..--. | September 08, 2018 |
| 4100.1 | H | Unknown | "H" repeated ID only, Source: HF Underground, 4 MHz Western USA Beacons | September 10, 2018 |
| 4102.8 | W... | southeast California desert | Windy beacon - see section on this page about the telemetry. Sends Morse code 'W' and series of dits - each dit correlating to a turn of its anemometer wind sensor, so if it is windy in the vicinity, it sends lots of dits; and no wind, no dits. TMP temperature (Fahrenheit), B battery voltage (decivolts). 24/7/365 | September 12, 2018 |
| 4194 | MX | Europe | Xtal controlled milliwatt beacon operated occasionally in europe. Sometimes sends straight carrier instead of ID. | |
| 4608 | MXC | Europe | Xtal controlled milliwatt beacon operated occasionally in europe. Sometimes sends straight carrier instead of ID. Sister beacon to MX. | |
| 5157.6 | Dasher | Florida | BLINKY 200 mW Dipole 24/7 | |
| 5484 | SD | San Diego, CA | ||
| 5499.13 | Dasher | WA | ||
| 5678.4 | Dasher | Colorado | PIKE solar/battery 100 mW Dipole 24/7 "Honker" | |
| 6,375.00 | Common and Precious 4 | Berlin, Germany | CW only. Solar powered with Battery backup. 1,5W into a short vertical. Operates 24/7. Sends SQL Cards on request. (Project Thread on HFU Board) | Jule 17, 2018 |
| 6,398.5 | Common and Precious 2 | Berlin, Germany | CW only. Grid powered. 25W into a 1/2λ Dipole. Operates 24/7. Sends SQL Cards on request. (Project Thread on HFU Board) | Jule 19, 2017 |
| 6547.0 | PRV | Preveza, Greece | Op: SW6HMU, QSL via sw6hmu@yahoo.gr (Source: UDXF). Also reported on 6852.1 | January 22, 2012 |
| 6549.3 | FL | Florida | 300 mW Dipole 24/7 | |
| 6626.2 | S | Inyo County, CA, near DVNP | About 60-200 dashes per min., sun-only, ~200 mW ('Rocky') | |
| 6626.4 | Dits | Mojave N.P. | Fast 'drippy' sounding dits about 100/min., sun-only, 1.5 watts ('Rainy') | |
| 6700.4 | Dasher | Joshua N.P. | About 62 dashes per min., 24/7 (Hexy2k) | |
| 6815 | SV1TEST | Athens, Greece (KM18VB) | Active 2010-2011, no further info. (Source: UDXF) (Youtube video) | |
| X9Q | S.E. Europe or Middle East | Sporadic operation, no further info. (Source: UDXF) | April 2012 | |
| 6816 | FU | N. America | Active June 2011, no further info. (Source: A*C*E [8], [9]) (MP3 audio recording) | January 20, 2012 |
| HA | N. America | Active July 2011, no further info. (Source: A*C*E [10], HF Underground Forum [11]) . Sometimes the frequency is reported as "6815 kHz USB". (MP3 audio recording) | July 9, 2011 | |
| 6852.1 | PRV | Preveza, Greece | 15 W Op: SW6HMU (Source: UDXF). (2) (3) Occasionally active with irregular schedule. QSLs via sw6hmu@yahoo.gr Former website [12] closed. Reported also on 6547.0 and 1654.95 kHz | April 24, 2012 |
| 6900 | Beeper | 0.5 sec beeps approx 1/sec (Source: HF Underground Forum [13]) | October 12, 2011 | |
| 6947.1 | 13 dits and 1 dah | No further info (Source: HF Underground Forum [14]) | October 24, 2011 | |
| 6961 | TR | Mojave desert, CA | (Source: HF Underground Forum [15]) | October 23, 2011 |
| 6994.8 | - | Norfolk, UK (JO02) | "RRR RRR RRR UK BEACON PROJECT 0.8E 52.8N 0.1 WATTS RRR RRR RRR REPORTS TO UKBEACON _ GMAIL.COM" (Source: UDXF) | 2011 |
| 7542 | 55555 | W Europe or NE USA | (Source: [16], N&O-173(5), UDXF) | March 1, 2012 |
| 7998.1 | HI | Western USA | Morse CW beacon. Approximate timing: 9.64 seconds repetition, dit duration 128 milliseconds | 27 December, 2018 |
| 8000.0 | QRP | W. Europe | reported on UDXF by european monitors | February 9, 2014 |
| 8001.5 | S | S.W. Arizona | sun-only, 1 watt. strong signal daytimes. Recently reported on 8000.6 kHz (Source: UDXF). | 2011 |
| 8003 | Dasher | Colorado | Solar/battery dipole 24/7 "Pike 78" 78 dashes/min | |
| 8191.7 | Dasher | Southwestern USA | 4 second dash (somewhat variable), likely 2nd harmonic of Viking on 4095.86 kHz (Source: HF Underground Forum, 8 MHz Western USA Beacons) | August 26, 2018 |
| 8192.7 | Dasher | Southwestern USA | 2.3 second dash, likely 2nd harmonic of Haystack on 4096.38 kHz (Source: HF Underground Forum, 8 MHz Western USA Beacons) | August 26, 2018 |
| 8193.7 | Ditter | Western USA | 1.1 dits per second, MarinDit, also may be heard on 4096.86 kHz (Source: HF Underground Forum, 8 MHz Western USA Beacons) | August 26, 2018 |
| 8193.8 | (Source: HF Underground Forum [17]) | October 23, 2011 | ||
| 8200.1 | D | Unknown | (Source: HF Underground Forum) | September 08, 2018 |
| 8211.7 | OR | |||
| 8261 | F | Western Canada | 250mW into a 1/2 wave inverted vee, 1400-0500 | |
| 8350 | Dasher | North Carolina | (Source: HF Underground Forum [18]) | December 31, 2011 |
| 8497.7 | Dasher | Pike 26 26 dashes/min | ||
| 8519.7 | (dasher) | N. America | Active August 2011, no further info. (Source: HF Underground Forum) | August 10, 2011 |
| 10236.7 | Dasher | FL | ||
| 10,237.74 | Common and Precious | Berlin, Germany | Grid powered. 5W into a 1/2λ Dipole. Operates 24/7. Sends SQL Cards on request. (Project Thread on HFU Board) | Jule 19, 2017 |
| 11002.7 | CO | Colorado | Solar battery 300 mW dipole 24/7 | |
| 11009.9 | S | ? | Discovered at 1032 UTC on 2011-03-26 in Australia (1) | |
| 11428 | CZ | ? | (Source: HF Underground Forum [19]) | January 3, 2012 |
| 13168.1 | dasher | N. America | No further info. (Source: UDXF, June 2011) | |
| 26510 | Common and Precious 3 | Berlin, Germany | Grid powered. 7W into a 5/8λ Vertical. Operates 24/7. Sends SQL Cards on request. (Project Thread on HFU Board) | Jule 19, 2017 |
| 26598 | Dasher | SW US | ~1/2 second dash every 29-31 seconds. 24/7. | |
| 27125 | AOH | California | 16mW QRP 11m beacon CW ID "AOH" CB Channel 14 27.125 MHz Beacon | |
| 27140.8 | 50RS497 | Russia | 27.141 MHz 27.140 MHz USB 27.142 MHz LSB CW ID 50RS497 | |
| 27141.6 | 14RS000 | France | JN38 200 mW power 27.1416 MHz 27.142 MHz beacon CW ID 14RS000 + long tone burst 27.140 MHz USB 27.143 MHz LSB | |
| 27175 | 153SD101 | Thailand | CB Channel 18 CW ID 153SD101 | |
| 27185 | CW ID in FM mode | Poland | Morse code modulated FM CB Channel 19 | |
| 27205 | FM voice 11m CB repeater beacon | Sweden | simplex repeater - DTMF mid band CB channel 20 | |
| 27255 | CW | Switzerland | CB Channel 23 - 10w power CW ID : VVV VVV DE 15BS061 15BS061 10 WATT 11M BEACON LOC. JN37TN JN37TN | |
| 27405 | 1 dot/minute | Germany | 1 watt power 1 pip per minute CB Channel 40- 27.405 MHz | |
| 27499.6 | 50KS00 | Moscow, Russia | 2 watt power beacon 27.500 MHz LSB CW ID 50KS00 | |
| 27500 | 69BY | Costa Rica | CW ID 69BY [also on 27550 and 27610] | |
| 27500 | Pips | Mexico City | CW pips (unknown TX power) | |
| 27500 | 38 Voice | Greenland | USB voice ID "38 voice beacon" | |
| 27500 | 153RT007 | Thailand | CW QRP Beacon 27.5 MHz 27.500 MHz | |
| 27501 | 2KP | Kansas | 25 watt power CW ID 2KP | |
| 27550 | 69BY | Costa Rica | CW ID 69BY [also on 27500 and 27610] | |
| 27596 | Pips | UNID | One beep every second - 27600 LSB 27598 USB 27.600 MHz 27.595 MHz | |
| 27610 | 69BY | Costa Rica | CW ID 69BY [also on 27500 and 27550] |
Telemetry Pirate Beacon
A telemetry pirate beacon may transmit some type of brief information about its surroundings, usually along with its identification symbol or some other identifying characteristic. Its transmission may have more content than the common dasher, ditter, or Morse code CW beacon, but the content can be mysterious or undocumented.
Windy Beacon
A good example of a telemetry pirate beacon is the Windy beacon which has been widely logged on approximately 4102.8 kHz CW. It is believed by some beacon listeners to be a solar powered wild beacon, located somewhere in the rough back-country of southwestern USA.
Windy transmits Morse code telemetry of ambient Temperature TMPfff (where fff is degrees Fahrenheit), Battery Voltage Bvvv (where vvv is decivolts), and 5 intervals of "W" followed by wind velocity dit pulses corresponding to revolutions of its ambient wind sensor. The typical timing of the Windy beacon telemetry is as follows: A 26 second temperature and battery interval; followed by 5 intervals of 13 seconds each for wind telemetry; with a total cycle time of approximately 135 seconds, repeating 24/7/365.
See also
- Pictures of high frequency beacons
- HiFER
- PHFER Beacon Madness - A glimpse into the Pathology and Symptoms of this Disease
- Radio propagation beacon - beacons with an official license
References
- Ary Boender: "Numbers and Oddities", issue 162, March 2011, pp. 17
- Ary Boender: "Numbers and Oddities", issue 156, September 2010, pp. 15-16
- "PRV" was often reported during the past few months and was unid until Linkz submitted a link to websites about this station. Linkz writes: I have no idea if this station is legit or a pirate. It's operator is Eystathios Karastathis (SW6HMU) from Preveza, Greece. He writes on his blog "PRV - 6852 kHz 15w cw BEACON with Dipole Ant on the air 17.30 pm- 8.00 am". According to his blog there is also a MF beacon "PRV beacon 500-531 khz am/cw 400 Watt" and a local AM broadcasting station "Studio 421" on 1655 kHz”. This beacon was last reported to UDXF on December 31, 2011.
- Ary Boender: "Numbers and Oddities", issue 159, December 2010, pp. 23.
- Ary Boender: "Numbers and Oddities", issue 173, February 2012, pp. 29.
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