Beacons

[Sudden]

I think this is the right place for this question.
What do beacons operate on is it AM SSB FM or something else. I have just trawled the net for answers and got nothing. There is a lot of info on them but not what they operate on. I think the call signs are sent in morse like a repeater. I have a sneaking suspicion that it AM and if so where do I get a VHF AM radio from.

Sudden

[WA9WVX]

Sudden,

Most Beacons operate on CW (Morse Code) as it takes up less bandwidth so if you can not copy CW, break out your CW decoder. The CW is sent at 13 WPM or faster.

Dan
WA9WVX

[Sudden]

Thanks Dan. I have one VHF radio with CW on it. It's about 20 years old with SSB and FM with repeater shift and still works. None of my other radios have CW so listeng to beacons seems to be a dead loss. I have a short wave receiver that I can't use because it gets swamped with interference/static noise. I will have to put some batteries in it and go out into quiet area for a listen.

Sudden

[WA9WVX]

Sudden,

I know there are quite a few on 10 m CW to judge where the band is open too and signal strenght, the same holds true on 6 m in the first 100 KHz, 2 m in the first 100 KHz and 70 cm around 432 MHz. They're widely used here in the U.S. but I imagine they're used in the U.K. and all around Europe too. Of course there's another method for tracking band conditions and here's the website:

http://www.dxmaps.com/spots/map.php?...XC=N&HF=N&GL=N

Just click on the band and this site will provide the contacts in real time, quite useful when you're chasing DX contacts. :-)

Dan
WA9WVX
Elgin, Illinois ... the one with the Trash Container & the Van in the Driveway on Google Earth. Easier to I.D. where I live.