[RTTY] NCDXF Beacons

[Jim McDonald]

I am primarily a DXer who also operates RTTY.  As a DXer, I have copied the
NCDXF beacons many, many times over the years.  They've been written up in
QST and many DX publications.  As a regular contributor to NCDXF to support
DXpeditions and the beacon system, I have received their newsletter, which
has also run features on the system.

Though many have responded "What beacon system?" my opinion is that this
system is in a league apart from the systems others have compared it to,
such as the packet mailboxes and the like.  Unlike a simple beacon operated
from one location by an individual, it is sophisticated, reliable, and a
useful propagation tool 24 X 7.  The software tools described at
http://ncdxf.org/Beacon/BeaconPrograms.html are very useful and clever.
Check out that list and judge for yourself.  Mostly as a novelty, I will
admit, is the little program that I have installed on my Palm that tracks
which beacon is transmitting at any time on the bands the system uses.

The system operates with a series of varying power levels from each station,
ranging from 100W down to 100 milliwatts.  Since each station transmits for
less than one minute and not all stations will have propagation at a given
time, tuning past the beacon frequencies and not hearing a beacon is to be
expected.  The schedule at http://ncdxf.org/Beacon/BeaconSchedule.html
should make that clear.  You need to know where to point your antenna at the
start of a given minute.

I'm not criticizing those who were not aware of the system, but at least
this controversy has publicized its existence.

Jim N7US



-----Original Message-----
From: rtty-bounces at contesting.com [mailto:rtty-bounces at contesting.com] On
Behalf Of John Becker
Sent: Monday, September 25, 2006 6:11 PM
To: rtty at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RTTY] Fwd: [digitalradio] RTTY Hall of Shame

Has anyone ever copied a beacon on 14,100 ? ? ?
I don't recall doing so in my 35 years as a ham.
That may be the shame of the whole deal


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