High Frequency Beacon

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| 8003 || Dasher || Colorado || Solar/battery  dipole    24/7  "Pike 78" 78 dashes/min  ||
| 8003 || Dasher || Colorado || Solar/battery  dipole    24/7  "Pike 78" 78 dashes/min  ||
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|-
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| 8191.7 || Dasher || Southwestern USA || 4 second dash (somewhat variable), likely 2nd harmonic of ''Viking'' on 4095.86 kHz (Source: [https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,45438.0.html HF Underground Forum, 8 MHz Western USA Beacons]) || August 26, 2018
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|-
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| 8192.7 || Dasher || Southwestern USA || 2.3 second dash, likely 2nd harmonic of ''Haystack'' on 4096.38 kHz (Source: [https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,45438.0.html HF Underground Forum, 8 MHz Western USA Beacons]) || August 26, 2018
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|-
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| 8193.7 || Ditter || Western USA || 1.1 dits per second, likely 2nd harmonic of ''MarinDit'' on 4096.86 kHz (Source: [https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,45438.0.html HF Underground Forum, 8 MHz Western USA Beacons]) || August 26, 2018
|-
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| 8193.8 ||  || || (Source: HF Underground Forum [http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,3819.0.html]) || October 23, 2011
| 8193.8 ||  || || (Source: HF Underground Forum [http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,3819.0.html]) || October 23, 2011
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|-
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| 8200.1 || D || Unknown || (Source: [https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,45438.msg167326.html#msg167326 HF Underground Forum]) || September 08, 2018
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| 8211.7 || OR || || ||
| 8211.7 || OR || || ||

Revision as of 00:20, 13 September 2018

A QSL card from a High Frequency beacon

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.

There is a separate list of Part 15 Beacons

Contents

Description

PRV (6852 kHz) under test

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
2097 A Arizona (15 watts) - 'A' ident or malfunctions as series of dits - 15 watts max., 24/7 [1] June 30, 2012
3450 OK OK (Source: HF Underground Forum [2]) (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 [3] 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
4094.8 Dasher WV Sputnick - 60 dash/min, night only Reported off air September 2009 due to lack of QSLs
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') [4] [5] April 6, 2013
4096.6 Dasher Mojave Nat. Preserve 2 sec. dash (about 16 per minute) 400 mW to inverted vee, 24/7 ('Kelsie') [6] 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 Western USA "H" repeated ID only 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 [7], [8]) (MP3 audio recording) January 20, 2012
HA N. America Active July 2011, no further info. (Source: A*C*E [9], HF Underground Forum [10]) .
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 [11] 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 [12]) October 12, 2011
6947.1 13 dits and 1 dah No further info (Source: HF Underground Forum [13]) October 24, 2011
6961 TR Mojave desert, CA (Source: HF Underground Forum [14]) 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: [15], N&O-173(5), UDXF) March 1, 2012
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, likely 2nd harmonic of MarinDit on 4096.86 kHz (Source: HF Underground Forum, 8 MHz Western USA Beacons) August 26, 2018
8193.8 (Source: HF Underground Forum [16]) 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 [17]) 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 [18]) January 3, 2012
13168.1 dasher N. America No further info. (Source: UDXF, June 2011)
26,510.0 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.

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.

4102 kHz Windy pirate beacon telemetry diagram

See also

27 MHz beacon 69BY in Costa Rica

References

  1. Ary Boender: "Numbers and Oddities", issue 162, March 2011, pp. 17
  2. Ary Boender: "Numbers and Oddities", issue 156, September 2010, pp. 15-16
  3. "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.
  4. Ary Boender: "Numbers and Oddities", issue 159, December 2010, pp. 23.
  5. Ary Boender: "Numbers and Oddities", issue 173, February 2012, pp. 29.



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