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TopBand: drift net beacons

To: <topband@contesting.com>
Subject: TopBand: drift net beacons
From: W8JITom@aol.com (W8JITom@aol.com)
Date: Tue, 24 Dec 1996 13:07:06 -0500
In a message dated 96-12-24 08:13:49 EST, you write:

>  Their IDs are always listed (except for a few private NDBs at
>private airports).  I have never been able to match a beacon with numbers in
>the ID to a local (domestic) LF beacon.  I have less info on the domestic
>"lighthouse" ocean beacons - anyone have current info available on
>locations/ids of those?- as far as I know, there are relatively few of them.

You are fortunate. One W7 had to keep flying up to an airport about 100 miles
from him (in AZ) and turning one down. A week later someone would turn it
back up.

FIO (25 watts) was audible about every kHz from 1838 to about 1855 here, the
strongest spurs S8-9 centered on 1845. The FAA called me last week and said
they fixed it, when they put a spectrum analyzer on it it looked like a
christmas tree until they backed the drive off.

The problem with the NDB's is two fold. One type uses a class A amplifier
with NO low pass filter, it depends on the linearity of the PA and any
matching network external to the TX to suppress harmonics. The other uses a
pair of diodes to limit static surges from the antenna.

Either type generates harmonics when adjusted incorrectly.

If you hear a three letter identifier, that's likely it. Sometimes the
INVERSE of the identifier comes out, when the carrier harmonic is audible and
not the modulation tones. 

73 Tom


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