[Skimmertalk] beacons.csv and beacon spotting

[Lee Sawkins]

Some time ago I mentioned the problem of Aggregator accepting all spots as valid beacons if the calls end in "/B".   I have two local beacons here that are so strong they cause spurious spots with all sorts of calls that end in "/B".  All these get reported by the RBN as beacons.  The BEACON.CSV file could and should be used to drop these invalid calls.  This is just one of many reported bugs in the Aggregator that should be fixed.Lee VE7CC 
----- Original Message -----
From: John Ackermann N8UR <jra at febo.com>
To: skimmertalk at contesting.com
Sent: Sat, 20 Jan 2018 07:07:26 -0700 (MST)
Subject: Re: [Skimmertalk] beacons.csv and beacon spotting

Thanks for that info, Bob. S0, the purpose of the file is to tag as 
beacons stations that are not signing with "/B"? I'm not sure whether 
all the VHF/UHF beacons in our range do that or not.

Anyway, when I get a chance I'll compare BEACONS.CSV with the latest 
beacon listing I have to see if they (sort of) match.

Thanks,
John
----

On 1/19/2018 5:33 PM, Bob Wilson, N6TV wrote:
> The BEACONS.CSV file is used only by the RBN Aggregator; it's not part of
> the VE3NEA skimmer software. This file is automatically and periodically
> downloaded from the Internet to the Aggregator installation directory fromThanks for
> a server, but I don't know where the server copy is located, or who
> maintains it. A number of VHF / UHF beacon callsigns are already listed
> there, but* many VHF/UHF beacon callsigns above 146 Mhz were deleted
> between my November 2017 copy and my January 2018 copy*. Perhaps W3OA can
> explain.
>
> The format is just frequency (in whole kHz, no decimals) and callsign,
> comma-separated.
>
> 1810,YR2TOP
> 1853,OK0EV
> 1875,DL3KR
> ...
> 145415,R3MAV
>
> I don't see W6REK/B 28214.3 listed in the BEACONS.CSV file, yet this beacon is
> being spotted <http://reversebeacon.net/dxsd1/dxsd1.php?f=0&c=w6rek/b&t=dx>
> OK as
> a Beacon (BCN) by the RBN, perhaps because the Aggregator treats anything
> signing /B as a beacon even if it is not listed in BEACONS.CSV.
>
> 73,
> Bob, N6TV
>
> On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 4:55 AM, John Ackermann N8UR <jra at febo.com> wrote:
>
>> Our VHF/UHF Skimmer is going to mainly hear beacons, and that's the main
>> value of the project -- to use them as a sign of propagation enhancement.
>>
>> I found Pete's blog articles about optimizing for NCDXF beacons (
>> http://reversebeacon.blogspot.com/2014/02/ncdxf-beacon-spotting-redux.html
>> and http://reversebeacon.blogspot.com/2017/09/beacons-revisited-
>> checklist.html). From that, I'm guessing that the Watch.lst file might
>> be helpful, though most of our beacons do send their call more than once.
>>
>> I also notice that there is a beacons.csv file, but I can't find any
>> documentation about it. The only reference seems to be in a list posting
>> by W3OA (http://dayton.contesting.com/pipermail/skimmertalk/2013-Aug
>> ust/001214.html) but that doesn't indicate what the contents of the file
>> should be.
>>
>> Can anyone provide a pointer on how to populate and use that file?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> 73,
>> John
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