My 4 mW 22 Meter DX

[N4LTA]

My HIFER beacon USC was received in VK land last week and positively IDed. It was running 4 mW to a 20 meter dipole 18 feet high.

Normally it transmits with a 1/4 wave ground plane vertical up about 30 feet but I changed the keying style to FSK and also moved the frequency and built another board. I shut down the normal beacon and hooked the test board for the new one to the low 20 meter dipole and left town. While I was out of town, I checked the reports from Australia and saw that the new beacon had been received and positively ID. It uses FSK QRSS 3 but still that is a long haul for 4 MW through 40 feet of RG 58 to a low dipole.

Below is a photo of the beacon as it is operating temporarily on the bench. I plane to put it in an oven for stability and roof mount it to the ground plane next week for a permanent installation. The beacon uses a PIC 509 8 pin processor and an Epson programmable oscillator.




Pat
N4LTA

[VK7ZL]

Hi Pat

I have been monitoring QRSS on 30M for quite some time but local QRM has become a problem on that band so I can switch to the 22M and listen for you.
What is your QRG?

My grabber is at:
http://www.users.on.net/~bobw/lf/

Bob

[N4LTA]

I am very close to 13,555,400 - my frequency counter reads 409 and 412 but it may be a 12 -15  Hz high.
Since is is not permanently mounted - I have not made a close measurement.

I just got a surplus rubidium oscillator and had it checked out but have not calibrated my counters yet.

I use a LM317L regulator to vary the Vcc on the Epson chip a few tenths of a volt to get the shift.

I'll keep an eye on your grabber.


Pat
N4LTA

[KG4NEL]

Pretty darned cool!