WCARC 70cm cw Beacon

The West Carleton Amateur Radio Club is building a CW propagation beacon for the 70cm band.

This weekend I am testing the transmitter and have asked local hams for signal reports.

Here are the specs on the setup:

Keyer: ID-O-Matic (built by VA3NFA ;-)
Transmitter: HTX-100 28Mhz IF into a Microwave Modules 432 transverter
Frequency: 432.300 Mhz (maybe a bit lower)
Mode: CW
Power: ~5 watts
Antenna: KU4AB E-Factor horizontal loop at 40' fed by ~70' of LMR400
Beacon Location: FN25bh (APRS Object: 432beacon)

Initial Signal Reports:

VA3KA: FN15wg (16Km): 559: Yaesu FT-736R: 28 elements at 40'
VA3WK: FN15xc (25Km): 519: Yaesu FT-897: 3 elements pointed NE
VE3CVG: FN25hm (45Km): 519: Kenwood TS2000: 19 elements
V01NO/VE3: FN24cw(40Km): 519: FT-736R: 20 elements at 40'
VA3SAX:Fn25bh(3Km): 519: FT857: Loop
VE3HXP: FN25eb(34Km): 519: Echo 70: 15 elements at 100'
VE3AKV: FN15vb(36Km): 559: 12 element K1FO at 8' (sat antenna)

Map:




The ideal CW beacon should have just enough power to be heard by a moderatly sized station within the area, but not so much power that it will cause interference with contest stations.

From initial reports it looks like a 5W beacon on 432 with a good location and a gain antenna (such as the proposed Big Wheel) will work well.

Many thanks for all the signal reports!

Tom
VA3NFA

p.s. Many thanks to VE3CVG for mod'ing the HTX-100 to be used as the I/F!

Aurora Propagation

There was a MASSIVE solar storm here today that resulted in some amazing Aurora Propagation on 50Mhz.

Here is a pic of the Sun showing the sunspot responsible:

Here is an audio recording of W8IF that I head on 50.155 at about 0014 UTC: click here.

The approximate distance of W8IF from my home QTH is 1000 kms!

I was using my Ft-847 for a radio with a G5RV jr antenna to receive this signal. He peaked at about 55a on this antenna. WOW!

Here is a pic from Dxers.info showing the 50Mhz spots in the last hour: