Hundred forty-fourth edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter

(Date: September 2009)

Utility round-up

Driftnet beacons

1939.0 kHz
"4OQP" 3x with long dash, every 3 minutes, about 5 WPM.

Pirate beacons logs

6828.65 kHz
"CQ CQ CQ beacon spain for dxers send report beaconhf hotmail.com qsl ok thanks"
7523.40 kHz
"T" beacon, dash every 4 seconds with about 1200 freq shift/curve.
7527.00 kHz
"T" beacon, dash every 4 seconds, with one spur at 7523.4 kHz with about 1200 freq shift/curve and many other spurs up and down freq.
8000.80 kHz
The Pike Dasher, Colorado. About every 7 seconds.

Pirate / Experimental beacons

In the past weeks I received several questions about the pirate beacons. I also noticed various mails on UDXF about the subject. We see only a few logs on UDXF these days so it's time for an update,

A number of beacon owners belong to the "High Frequency Beacon Society". They run a number of beacons throughout the USA . Below an overview of their beacons. Check for logs and further info http://highfrequencybeaconsociety.bravehost.com

The Society beacons:

The dashers have no morse ID but have been given names.

"SDSR" means sun down to sun rise.
"D" means daylight.

Frequency	Name/id	Power/antenna/remarks	Ops-times
3449.70	OK	Oklahoma. 300Mw end fed wire	24/7
4077.27	MO	Oklahoma. Solar 200Mw 118ft end fed wire	24/7
4078.25	WW	100Mw Center Loaded Whip	SDSR/7
4094.20	PA	Arkansas. Solar power 200 MW. Dipole	24/7
4097.4	KX	Solar. Transits the temp inside/outside + battery voltage	24/7
5157.3	Blinky	Florida. Solar 500MW. Dipole	24/7
5484	SD	San Diego, CA. 200Mw OCF. Dipole	24/7
6549.3	FL	Florida. 300Mw. Dipole VEE	24/7
8000.4	S	SW Arizona. 300Mw. Dipole. Solar	D/7
8003.6	Pike-78	Colorado. Dipole. Solar/battery (on cold days freq can drop to 8001 kHz). Transmits 78 dashes/min	24/7
8211.8	OR	200Mw. Solar. End Fed vertical	24/7
8497.7	Pike-26	Dipole. Solar/battery. Transmits 26 dashes/min	24/7
10236.5	Echo	500mw. Vertical Dipole. Transmits 1 dash/sec	24/7
10240.5	Sputnick	W.Virginia. 70Mw. 12ft vertical. 50 beeps/min	SDSR/7
11002.7	CO	Colorado. Solar. 300-500Mw. Dipole Note: There is often a message on this beacon.	D/7
14400.7	UFO	Colorado. On the air times will be posted on HF UNDERGROUND. UFO has been reported on the following frequencies. 14400.5, 14400.47, 14400.27, 14400.68 kHz.

Other beacons listed on http://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/High_Frequency_Beacons

Frequency	Name/id	Power/antenna/remarks	Ops-times
2097	A	Arizona (15 watts)	24/7
4062	C	Drifts from 4052 to 4063 kHz.
4079	TMPnnn	SW Arizona. Temperature beacon. Temp in F every 10 sec.	24/7
4089		About 80 dits/minute, Death Valley N.P.	24/7
4096		6 dots 1 Dash
4096.1	Coxie	4.5 sec long dashes (13 p/min) Joshua Tree N.P.	24/7
4096.25	Hexie	1 sec dash (30 p/min) Joshua Tree N.P.	24/7
4096.6	Kelsie	2 sec. dash (16 p/min) Mojave Nat. Preserve	24/7
4097.2	Inyo Whooper	55 dashes p/min. Inyo County, Calif.	D/7
4102.3	W...	SE California. Wind beacon. Sends "W" + dits
5499.13	WA	Dasher
6626.2	S (Rocky)	Inyo County, CA. 60-200 dashes p/min.
6626.4	Rainy	Fast "drippy" sounding dits about 100/min., Mojave N.P.	D/7
6700.4	Hexy2k	Dasher. About 62 dashes p/min. Joshua Tree N.P.	24/7
8188.7	W	Solar/battery 100 mW dipole. Location: Colorado	D/7
8261	F	250mW into a 1/2 wave inverted vee. W.Canada	0400-0500
10236.7	FL	Dasher

Unid 9457 kHz

9457 kHz
Unid station. "897/898/898/898/898/898" repeated.
Mode: Baudot 50/500

Unid 3343 kHz

Greg logged an unid morse station on 3343 kHz at 1554 UTC on 26-9.

Marker "MWKJ" is sent at 20-30 and 50-00 minutes past each hour. At 1558 UTC hand key sent: "bt 39 98 42 bt" repeated three times.