K7EK's BEACONS

I am presently operating a full time ten meter beacon in Spanaway, WA, grid square CN87TB. 

It is on 28.250 mhz. The power output is 25w and antenna is a 1/2 wave ten meter Ringo.

NOTE: This is a "synchronized" beacon. I occupy the time slot between :40 and :50 of each minute. There are other beacons on 28250.0 across the country which occupy different time slots. Tune your receiver there and listen for awhile. You never know what you are going to hear. For news and information about the 250-Net, check out http://www.wb4wor.net/sync/

The radio is a Uniden HR-2600. It is being keyed by an Expanded Spectrum Systems

"Synchronized Freakin' Beacon", model SB2.   Please do your part:  Synchronize your beacon!

Personal Requests

If you currently operate a beacon, or plan to operate one, I strongly encourage you to consider making it synchronized. This is in keeping with the spirit of amateur radio. Not only will you reduce the chance of interference to others on or near your chosen frequency, synchronizing your beacon maximizes your chances of being heard. Then there is the matter of output power. In keeping with that which was stated above, I personally think that beacons should  not run excessive power. There are those out there that think "more power is better". That is simply NOT the case. Something in the 1 - 25w range is all that is necessary.

Don't forget: Your actions always have an impact on others. Please be a good neighbor and work with your fellow beacon operators instead of against them. I cite The Amateur's Code as the basis for these requests. Please read and practice it in all of your amateur radio pursuits as I do. Thank you!

I would appreciate reports. You can accomplish this in several ways:   Email  -  k7ek at k7ek dot net,   DX Cluster Spots, or post to the HF Beacons Reflector (You must be subscribed: hfbeacons-subscribe at explore.plus.com).  The HF Beacons Reflector is an awesome way to keep up on what is being heard around the country, and also to post what you are hearing as well. If you have any interest in HF propagation, I urge you to subscribe to the HF Beacons Reflector.

If you wish to post 10m beacon reports in real-time, please use http://10mbeacons.com, or the DX cluster network:  I suggest using www.k7ek.net on PORT 7373 and 9000 with telnet. These are my personally owned and operated DX cluster nodes.

Future Plans

A six meter beacon is also in the works. I have constructed a Freakin' Beacon FB2 kit for this beacon and am actively seeking a suitable transmitter for the project.  The primary purpose of this beacon will be to support auroral studies. It will use a small fixed-azimuth horizontally polarized yagi antenna, pointed roughly NNE.  While primarily for auroral studies, I believe that this beacon will prove useful for other general purposes. The K7EK six meter beacon will be located on a 4100' mountaintop and will operate continuously from grid CN97.

As time permits, I will post pictures here of my beacons. If you have any questions or constructive comments, please contact me by email.  Flames or derogatory comments will be ignored and their originators will be placed in my email reject list.

Best regards,

Gary E. Kohtala - K7EK